As soon as we made a move they turned and plunged once more into the bush, with us in hot pursuit. They, however, crossed a small stream that flowed through the bush a few hundred yards further on, and disappeared. When we reached the stream we found it to be so swollen by the previous few days’ rain as to be unfordable. We therefore returned to camp and despatched Barri and two others to follow the elephants, and to send word back to camp when they stopped once more.
On our return we found N’Dominuki in camp. He greeted us with every sign of pleasure, and we were just as pleased to see him, as his conduct during our absence was of the very highest order, and we regarded him as a very real friend. We had a long talk with him, and he confirmed the unpleasant news we had heard about the scarcity of food in M’thara and the hostile attitude of Bei-Munithu.
Just before dusk a report from Barri came to hand to the effect that the two elephants, after working round in a circle, were now not far from camp. Once more we set out, and after half an hour’s walk we reached the place where they were reported to be resting. Creeping stealthily up, we found that the big bull had succumbed to his injuries, and lay stretched out on his side quite dead. The other elephant, very much on the alert, was standing a little way off in the bush, and George and I immediately set out to try and bag him. He was, however, much too wary, and aided by the gathering darkness succeeded in eluding us in the thick bush, so we returned to camp in the hope that he would return during the night to his dead companion.
Early next morning, therefore, George and I set out in search of the other elephant, but he was nowhere to be seen, having evidently cleared out of the district for good during the night. After breakfast we went to the spot where the dead elephant lay, in order to chop out the ivory. He was a magnificent beast. I measured him with the tape as accurately as possible, and the following are the measurements which I jotted down in my notebook at the time:—
The distance between two spears planted vertically in the ground, one in a line with the sole of the foot and the other against the shoulder as he lay, measured 10 feet 8 inches, which may be taken as his height. From the forehead to the root of the tail the tape marked 13 feet 3 inches. Round the girth he measured 18 feet 8 inches; while the circumference of each fore foot totalled up 4 feet 8 inches, though, on measuring the tracks, I found they were fully 5 feet in circumference, an increase due to the expansion of the foot under the enormous weight of the animal. The tusks weighed 75 lbs. and 65 lbs. respectively, the lighter tusk having had a piece about 18 inches in length broken off from the end.
On cutting him up we found the steel core of a ·577 bullet in his chest, which might, from its appearance, have been there for years. It was of precisely the same pattern as those used by El Hakim, and as Mr. Neumann, the only man who had shot elephants at M’thara before, did not, so far as I know, use steel core bullets we came to the conclusion that it was a bullet which had been fired some two years previously by El Hakim at the same elephant, which had got away after being wounded. El Hakim said he had lost one or two elephants in this bush about that time, after wounding them.
The bush round North Kenia is very bad for elephant-shooting. It is terribly thick and leafy, and the elephants themselves very wild. Neumann, after a fortnight’s unsuccessful hunting in this place, became altogether disheartened, and, after a thorough trial of the district, came to the conclusion that he was wasting his time and strength, and gave up the task as hopeless. I was much interested in reading in Mark Twain’s “More Tramps Abroad” an extract from Gordon Cumming’s account of his experiences with an elephant which he gives in that book. It is such a quaint account, and is in such contrast to the modern sporting methods and ideas, that I make no apology for inserting it here:—
“Having planted a bullet in the shoulder-bone of an elephant, and caused the agonized creature to lean for support against a tree, I proceeded to brew some coffee. Having refreshed myself, taking observations of the elephant’s spasms and writhings between the sips, I resolved to make experiments on vulnerable points, and approaching very near, I fired several bullets at different parts of its enormous skull. He only acknowledged the shots by a salaam-like movement of his trunk, with the point of which he gently touched the wounds with a striking and peculiar action. Surprised and shocked to find I was only prolonging the suffering of the noble beast, which bore its trials with such dignified composure, I resolved to finish the proceeding with all possible despatch, and accordingly opened fire on him from the left side. Aiming at the shoulder I fired six shots with the two-grooved rifle, which must have eventually proved mortal, after which I fired six shots at the same part with the Dutch six-pounder. Large tears now trickled down from his eyes, which he slowly shut and opened, his colossal frame quivered convulsively, and falling on his side he expired.”
The next day the bulk of the men were still busily engaged in cutting up the carcase of the elephant, slicing the meat into strips, which they dried in the sun or in the smoke of their fires. As we were badly in need of grain food, we decided to send a party of men to Munithu and Zura to try to buy food, and also to bring back the few remaining loads of trade goods still in Bei-Munithu’s possession. Our purpose, as much as anything, was to test the temper of the natives there, and to see whether Bei-Munithu, now that he had heard of our safe arrival, was still determined to put his treacherous plans into execution.
In the mean time the men were busy gorging the elephant meat. A little M’kamba boy named M’waniki composed a song, which was sung with great success by a lady named Kinyala, who, with many others, had on the previous day joined their fortunes to those of our porters, in many cases deserting their husbands and homes in M’thara that they might follow the safari to Nairobi, which, to these poor creatures, was a vast and distant city of a splendour beyond their wildest dreams. Jumbi had strict orders not to allow any women in camp, but in spite of our frequent “drives” some of them managed to conceal themselves and escaped the general clearance. Kinyala attached herself to the modest and respectable Ramathani, and as she possessed some personal charms—to the mind of a native—that individual made no very strenuous objections. Well, Kinyala sang the song I have already spoken of, and it “caught on” tremendously; and, as a consequence, it was dinned into our ears day and night. It ran thus:—