This accounted for the presence of so large
a number of animals, as they were never disturbed by these
untiring hunters.
Our camp was pitched at the junction of a torrent, which, flowing
from the higher ground, joined the river Salaam in a succession
of waterfalls. At this season, a gentle stream, as clear as
glass, rippled over a rocky bed about twenty yards wide, and the
holes in the flat surface above the fall formed natural basins of
the purest water. I frequently strolled for some miles along the
bed of the stream, that afforded excellent pasturage for the
horses in a sweet, green grass, that was not only an attraction
to antelopes and buffaloes (Bos Caffer), but formed a covert for
incredible numbers of the beautiful francolin partridge, which
might have been shot in hundreds as they rose from the cool
herbage that afforded both food and concealment. I was returning
late one evening along the bed of the stream, after a day's
shooting, during which I had bagged several antelopes and wild
boar, when I observed at a distance a dark mass in the bright
yellow grass, which I quickly distinguished as a herd of
elephants. It was just dusk, and having endeavoured to meet them
as they came to drink, but without success, I determined to track
them up on the following morning.
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