In Africa, as we have before stated, the “dood plek,” or death spot, of all the animals of the chase is considered to be behind or in the shoulder; and in the case of the elephant this is marked by the posterior and lower edge of the ear, which is so large that in a male 10ft. 9in. high at the shoulder the ear measured 5ft. 3in. in depth and 3ft. 9in. from front to rear. The African elephant is much larger than the Indian, which does not average more than 10ft.; while one shot by a friend measured 11ft. 8in. at the shoulder, and probably between 12ft. and 13ft. at the highest part of the back. Mr. Petherick also tells of one 12ft. 4in. at the shoulder, with a pair of tusks weighing 140lb.; and of another of 15ft. at the shoulder, whose pair weighed 100lb.

In general a bull’s tusk will weigh from 501b. to 90lb., and a cow’s not more than 30lb. The largest we have ever seen weighed, one 153lb. and the other 163lb.—100lb. Dutch being equal to 108lb. English.

The native methods of killing the elephant seem to alarm the survivors but little, and would probably never drive them from the country; but since the introduction of firearms they have gradually been forced so far towards the interior that it is difficult to believe that herds of them had once browsed on the slopes of Table Mountain. A few are left in the dense forests of the Kuysna, where they may not be shot without special permission, and some in the Addo and Sundays River Bush, between Algoa Bay and Grahamstown, and it will be long ere they are thoroughly extirpated from the country to the northward of Natal; but in the district of Lake Ngami they are becoming scarce, and the hunters from Walvisch Bay have to go yearly much farther to the northward, and follow them to new districts. Under these circumstances the waggons of the hunters have to be fitted out for the season’s journey like ships for a long voyage. Groceries and meal must be purchased before starting. If bread should be desired, corn may in general be bought for beads, and flesh will be supplied by spare cattle, sheep, or goats, driven with the waggons, or by the hunter’s rifle. Of working oxen there must be a sufficient number to replace those that die from the deadly sting of the tsetse, or other causes; and the stud should also be numerous enough to allow for the ravages of the horse sickness, for exhaustion, and for casualties in the field. A “salted” horse—i.e., one that has recovered from the sickness, and is, therefore, supposed not to be liable to it again—is worth any money; but this depends much on the locality, for if a horse that has passed the ordeal in a district where the sickness is in a mild form be taken to one where it is more severe he is liable again to disease and death.

The Western negroes are very ingenious and clever in hunting elephants. The herds are watched for weeks, their haunts are ascertained, their paths carefully traced, and the possibility of catching them in, or driving them to, the thickest parts of the forest debated on; then the bush vines, monkey ropes, lianas, or bindweed are cut, so as not quite to fall, but to hang loosely from the branches. Some of the paths are blocked by trees felled across them; others are left open as entrances and others as escapes; and in these last, where two stout trees, with conveniently forked branches, narrow the pass between them, a heavy beam, pierced with several holes, into which spear-heads are inserted and tightly wedged, is raised, so as to hang as high as possible directly across the path; a stout rope at each end of the beam is looped over the short thick end of a pole, which rests on a forked branch, and of which the longer end is held down by another rope attached to a peg stuck into the ground at the foot of the tree, the immense leverage afforded by the longer arm making it easy for a small strain to keep it down, and the shorter end pointed up, so that the loop cannot slip off. When all is ready another line, about 16in. from the ground, is stretched from peg to peg across the path.

The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however, a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly against a tree, or trample him to death. But while thus engaged, the others cut and let fall more tangle, and drive down upon him their broad-bladed spears until he sinks exhausted; while others that break away are driven with loud shouts into the openings that gradually narrow as the paths approach the beam falls (contrivances much like those used in the capture of the hippopotamus), where at the next step the elephant must trip the horizontal line, draw out or break the pegs, release the lever ends of the long triggers, and the next moment, with wounded body and disabled spine, lie writhing in the power of his enemies, some of whom, if they approach too closely his powerful wide-sweeping trunk, may yet, however, pay dearly for their victory.

It is fortunate, perhaps, that nearly all occupations necessary for the obtainment of animal food in a wild country not only entail the necessity for the expenditure of sufficient physical force to serve as healthful exercise, but also afford enjoyment enough to induce men to engage in them. It might be shown that even the daily labour of the mechanic is not always the exception to this rule. But for the present purpose it is enough that the chase, besides supplying food and raiment to savages and semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest antiquity till now, has always possessed such charms for the vigorous and healthy man rejoicing in his strength, and proud of the opportunity of displaying it, that not only the savage, confident in his personal address, and the support of his fellow-hunters, exults in open battle with the fiercest animals; in trials of speed and endurance with the fleetest; or of patience and watchful skill in ensnaring the most wary. But our own countrymen, led by the love of adventure and excitement, will leave behind the luxuries of civilised life, and cheerfully endure the privations of a toilsome journey for the mere chance of engaging single-handed with some fierce creature which, with their inferior weapons, a whole tribe of natives would find it difficult to subdue.

Nor is this love of excitement and adventure to be classed with the cold-blooded cruelty so often attributed to hunters. The battue system, by which herds of timid, helpless animals are driven from all quarters into an inclosure before some potentate—who sits in safety in his gallery with ready-loaded rifles, handed to him by obsequious attendants, who score off the hundreds he has slain—we surrender freely to the reproach and reprobation it deserves. There may be enjoyment in wholesale slaughter, but the spirit that could find it is not of the sort which urged a young military friend of ours to chase four lions across the plains near Bloem Fontein, and to regret only that his horse failed to bring him to close quarters before they gained the shelter of the broken rocky hills.

Of course there are “butchers” who, when animals happen to be plentiful and easy of approach, will kill for the mere pleasure of boasting of the numbers they have shot; but the true sportsman would turn disgusted from such facile slaughter. Some exercise of skill, endurance, and more or less personal risk, is necessary to his enjoyment; and when to his ardour for the chase he adds the accomplishments of the artist, the naturalist, and the geographer, he deserves the praise instead of the reproach of those who sit at home at ease, and cannot enter into the enthusiasm which alone has enabled him to endure privation and conquer difficulty, instead of turning weary and defeated from the hardships of travel. All travellers, and many missionaries in Africa, are from choice or necessity hunters—and those who do not desire in some way to improve the opportunities cast in their way are few in number—and if they enjoy the task of killing savage animals which, in the interests of humanity, had better be thinned off, the cattle farmers, the agriculturists, or the hungry natives, as they satisfy their cravings for animal food, will thank them, and hail the hunters as friends in need.

The Cape farmer, whether English or Dutch, is seldom so spiritless as not to enjoy the hunting of his own lions, and the avenging with his own hand the depredations on his cattle. With game more worthy of his lead, the Dutch colonist works more methodically; and though in general he exhibits but little of the dash and recklessness characteristic of the British officer, he lacks not courage or determination when occasion calls it forth.

Lion hunting.