The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-11
SELoUS AFTER BIG GAME.
HLs ELEPHANT HUNTS IN SOUTH
AFRICA.

why the Elephant Tna Net 1Iccomc EAiInct.
y. G. selous. tho elephant hunter and the original
Allan Quatermnin Of II. Rider Haggari's novel. has
written an account OF some OF his most vivid South
African experiences, hunting what lie regards MS tho
king OF bessts, Mr.. selou' probably has killed more
elephants than any other man alive. and his story.
violated below, contains facts which will DO Of rs
rrreh interest to tho naturalist m 10 the lover Of ad.
ventures.
Three things have saved tho wild, unprotected
elephant in southern Africa from extinction.
Those arc the extraordinary development OF its
sonsc Of smell. It's power Of walking enormous
distances withoutrost, ..andthe vast extcnt Of tho
country over which It can travel after having
zen disturbed. l can Illustrate all three points.
Many years ago. in 1872, l was hunting elc.
plants In company with an experienced Hotton-
tot hunter in the forest country to tho north Of
Matabcleland One day wo were ascending n
small. isolated hill In order to got a view over
the surrounding country, when my companion
cspied a herd of elephants, and at once directed
my attention to them. They wero advancing
rapidly through tho forest In n long, struggling
limo, and were heading in a direction that would
take them across tho limo of march by which we
had como to the hill. As soon as the old hunter
at my sido realized this fact, which he did at a
glance, no said to me: w must descend tho
hill at onco and cut ioff the elephants before
thc1 u Jul bpOOE. vi tntg VIII hSouTculg
scent IL and take alarm"
We therefore scrambled down the hill and ran
back through the open forest as quickly as posi-
bic in tho direction from which we had come.
We were In time to intercept the elephants just
rs the forcmost, an old COW, reached the line
along which our feet had come in contact with
tho earth. I saw hor stop dead and scent the
ground rapidly with her outstrctchcd trunk,
the point OF which was moved quickly to and
fro close to the ground. That brief eSamina-
ton was sufficient, her delicate sense OF Smell
having evidently conveyed to her brain tho in
formation that human beings. the dreaded
enemies Of her race, had lately passed that
way, and might therefore still he near her.
How she conveyed the information 10 her COM
panions I do not know, but in another moment
tho whole herd had swung round and were
making Off at n stumbling trot in the opposite
direction. Then followed a long and exhaust
ing chase In tho intense heat of an African sun,
which, however, resulted in the death of sew
eral elephants.
On another occasion remember following
four enormous bulls which had come to drink
one night In u lagoon formed by the overflow of
the river Chobi. We took up the tracks at tho
first dawn of day, the elephants being not far
ahead Of us, and. were in momcntary expecta-
ton of coming up with them when we suddenly
found that they had become alarmed and had
fed. An examination of the ground showed us
that they had turned short round on reaching
the track we had made when approaching the
river on the previous day with n long rctinue of
Kaffirs. Their kecnncss Of scent had at once
enabled them to detect the faint left on the
ground by human feet which had passed that
way some twenty hours before, and, rs we
never caught them up, was the means OF saving
them for that day, at least, from the atten-
tions of an elephant gun.
During 1885, some five years before the oc.
cupation of Mashonaland by pioneers. l was
canped on the. banks of the Umfuli River, in
company with a well:known Boer hunter, Cor.
after a rare good days buffalo hunting, anS
were inst about to discuss our rough but sub
stantial evenings meal when two OF the KAT.
frs sc had left at the carcass of one of the buff
faloes came and reported that a herd OF ole
SIGHT of them, just as 1t was growing dusk.
As the wind was favorable. they did not think
their presence, or taken alarm. TO VIC deter
mined to follow them up the following day,
d, Ths we NEXT Iod %o G n and th hH, tns'r s "a, earliest rast
two miles beyond the spot where tho Kafnrs
e eisnc seen IN t fhen a-a the p sSNsld : evening" zen, ga ard 3
sen,ly Se eot w seaRteS anu aniet ~ t here e and b had oyi'
hours in front of us, but they had been feeding
to some extent sxtGen stripping a tree here and there
branches, and even stopping now and then to
dig up some succulcnt root. 1t looked as IL
and might be expected TO halt as soon as The
sun became intentionally warm. in order TO
sober-minded elephants always do IN parts q
tho country where they have rot been much
hunted. There was among the great round and
oblonS tracks of some twenty large elephants
the spoor of a tiny calf that could not have tecn
many days old, and, the fact that so young an
that we should come up with item in the course
Of the day VI, for we did not think such a baby
great distance without resting. we soon
learned, too, by a careful examination of the
the one evidently an animal Of the largest size.
while the second Was considerably smaller,
about 'i twenty %lfy' to DC t sSPsfsea TO Bounds SnTryS '! weTrS Of
each. The big, bull, we feared. would prove to
DO 2 tuskless elephant, which both Van l,ooyen
and myself had lately seen in this district. as
the only tuskless bull elephant I have ever seen.
We had ridden out from camp accompanied
bashnlan. The former were Matabelc and
Mashonas, and very much like any other ordi-
one OF the most sagacious hunters ! have ever
met, even among men of his own wild race, and
no was simply unsurnassable M a tracker and
H. Sann %ben 1t old TS Mar ! shon ,ho say y h "lomt pa, 5:So A;
I'm about 3,P. NJ. only twice taking the sad,
dies on tho horses for a fey minutes nt a time
TO ease their backs and allow them to stale.
tagged, as The heat OF the sun had been intense
49, 5000 49, 'oNtc anu W Z VIC tltlt Id
our horses for the third time and old Marman
announced his intention of running on The
opoor, we told them 10 take a rest and follow
quietly on tho tracks Of our horses. Old Mar
pIan now commenced to run. and in ali my life
j have never. sccn a more marvellous feat Of
endurance. He would run II mile nj IL good
sharp trot, then walk very fast for n quarter
or half q mile, then run again. and so he kept
on for mile after milo and hour after hour. At
length tho burning sun sank from view, but
still the elephants were far ahead of us, ard still
old Marlran trottcd ~dOggcdly ON their tracks.
Soon after this timc we came to where the
elephants had rested during the ncrcest fcat OF
the day, possibly from = til i, and 40 on again
moving tncy had scattered and commenced to
feed in real earnest, breaking down trees and
digging up roots in all directions, we might vet
have come up With them had we been in q part
out. But within tho tropics, some 20 degrees
south OF the equator, once the sun has rot night
comes Oh apacc.
During the thirteen hours we had been on The
elephants tracks. ] think we could not have
covered less than fifty. miles, ~ old Marman
must have run nearly, II not quite twenty aftcr
o'clock, and allowing over III! hour for the
time lost whi!c tho horses were of -saddlcd, wc
had then already done about eight hours vc.y
HI aA