Abou Do seldom failed; it was a difficult feat to
strike correctly in the narrow jungle passage with
the elephant in full speed, but the blow was fairly
given, and the back sinew was divided. Not content
with the success of the cut, he immediately
repeated the stroke upon the other leg, as he feared
that the elephant, although disabled from rapid motion,
might turn and trample Jali. The extraordinary
dexterity and courage required to effect this
can hardly be appreciated by those who have never
hunted a wild elephant ; .but the extreme agility,-
pluck, and audacity of these Hamran sword-hnnters
surpass all feats that I have ever witnessed.
I set Jalis broken thigh, and employed myself in
making splints : fortunately my tool-chest was at
hand, and I selected some pieces of dry wood that
had been left on the bank by the retiring river. I
made two splints, one with a crutch to fit beneath
the arm, this I carried to about three inches beyond
the foot, and cut a Y-shaped notch to secure the
bandage ; the other was a common short splint about
eighteen inches long. My wife quickly made about
sixty yards of bandages, while Barraké, the maid,
prepared thick gum water, from gum arabic, that thè
mimosas produced in unlimited quantity. Fixing
the long splint under the arm, and keeping it upon
the outside of the thigh,. with the leg perfectly
straight, I lashed the foot and ankle securely to the
Y-shaped notch : I then strapped the upper portion
of the splint with bandages passed around the
patient’s chest, until he was swathed from beneath
the arms to the hips, thus securing the splint to his
body. The thigh, and entire leg from the fork to
the ankle, I carefully secured to the long splint with
three rows of bandages, the first plain, and the last
two layers were , soaked in thick gum-water. When
these became dry and hard, they formed a case like
an armour of pasteboard; previous to bandaging the
limb in splints, I had bathed it for some hours with
cold applications.
On the following morning I expected to find my
patient in great pain; but, on the contrary, he complained
very little.. His pulse was good, and there
was very little swelling or heat. I gave him some
cooling medicine; and the only anxiety that he expressed
was the wish to get well immediately, so as
to continue the expedition.
The Arabs thought that I could mend the leg of
a man as though it were the broken stock of a gun,
that would be serviceable immediately when repaired.
As these people never use spirituous liquors, they
are very little subject to inflammation, and they
recover quickly from wounds that would be serious
to Europeans. I attended to Jali for four days. He
was a very grateful, but unruly patient, as he had
never been accustomed to remain quiet. At the
end of that time we arranged an angarep comfortably
upon a camel, upon which he was transported
to Geera, in company with a long string of
camels, heavily laden with dried meat and squares
of hide for shields, with large bundles of hippopo