Before We Reached Mburuma
My Men Went To Attack A Troop Of Elephants, As They Were Much In Need Of
Meat.
When the troop began to run, one of them fell into a hole,
and before he could extricate himself
An opportunity was afforded for
all the men to throw their spears. When he rose he was like a huge porcupine,
for each of the seventy or eighty men had discharged more than one spear
at him. As they had no more, they sent for me to finish him.
In order to put him at once out of pain, I went to within twenty yards,
there being a bank between us which he could not readily climb.
I rested the gun upon an ant-hill so as to take a steady aim;
but, though I fired twelve two-ounce bullets, all I had, into different parts,
I could not kill him. As it was becoming dark, I advised my men
to let him stand, being sure of finding him dead in the morning;
but, though we searched all the next day, and went more than ten miles,
we never saw him again. I mention this to young men who may think
that they will be able to hunt elephants on foot by adopting
the Ceylon practice of killing them by one ball in the brain.
I believe that in Africa the practice of standing before an elephant,
expecting to kill him with one shot, would be certain death to the hunter;
and I would add, for the information of those who may think that,
because I met with a great abundance of game here, they also might find
rare sport, that the tsetse exists all along both banks of the Zambesi,
and there can be no hunting by means of horses.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 865 of 1070
Words from 248231 to 248531
of 306638
