the sake of their flesh; and also in order to obtain their teeth, which, however, as they are generally small, are sold to the merchants for a very trifling profit. The manner of hunting the elephant is simply this: from ten to twenty horsemen single out one of these ponderous animals, and, separating him from the flock by screaming and hallooing, force him to fly with all his speed; after wounding him under the tail, if they can there place a spear, the animal becomes enraged. One horseman then rides in front, whom he pursues with earnestness and fury, regardless of those who press on his rear, notwithstanding the wounds they inflict on him. He is seldom drawn from this first object of his pursuit; and, atlast, wearied and transfixed with spears, his blood deluging the ground, he breathes his last under the knife of some more venturesome hunter than the rest, who buries his dagger in the vulnerable part near the abdomen: for this purpose he will creep between the animal’s hinder legs, and apparently expose himself to the greatest danger: when this cannot be accomplished, one or two will ham-string him, while he is baited in the front; and this giant of quadrupeds then becomes1 comparatively an easy prey to his persecutors. Jan. 1Z— Karouash came to us this evening, with his dark Arab eyes, sparkling with somewhat more than vivacity;, and it was not long before we found out the cause. The people of Gulphi, who inhabited a town close to the banks of the Shary, had no other /means of raising their grain (the land surrounding their walls being all tributary to the sheikh) than by planting it on the south bank of that river; reaping in the season, and carrying the produce to their city by means of their flat-bottomed boats. They had, of late, been «o little interrupted in their agricultural pursuits, by the boats of the neighbouring towns, that a village of huts had sprung up on this portion of land; and labourers, to the number of three or four hundred, resided there constantly. The hostile movements of the Begharmis had, however, made the sheikh’s people more pn the alert than formerly ; and passing over the river in their own boats, accompanied by several deserters from Gulphi, who, traitor-like, consented to bear arms against the land that gave them birth, and lead its enemies to the pillage of their brethren, the people of Maffatai and Kussery had, a few nights before, made an attack on this village, putting to death all the males, even while they slept; and, as usual, dragging the women and children to their boats, returned , to their homes without the loss of a man, after setting fire to all the huts, and more than, four hundred stacks, of wheat and gussub. The effects produced by this midnight, expedition, and which was celebrated by singings and rejoicings throughout Kouka, were indeed of a nature favourable to my prospects, notwithstanding, the shock humanity received from the cause. The Begharmis, who had occupied the-southern banks of the Shary for. months, obliging even the Loggun people to supply them with provisions, took such alarm at this attack of the sheikh’s people, that they struck their camp, and retired immediately on the news reaching them; and the Loggun nation as quickly sent off to the sheikh a deputation, with sixty slaves, and three hundred bullocks, congratulating him on the event. I determined on making immediate application for permission to visit this country; so full of interest, both from its. situation, and the waters by which it was reported to be bounded. No time was to be lost, for the return of the enemy might be as sudden as his flight; and again I might have my intentions frustrated. I had been eleven months endeavouring to visit this country—-but to climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first. Jan. 18.—The sheikh, who had never, on any one occasion, neglected making every possible arrangement for carrying my wishes into execution, had not only instantly complied with my request to seize this opportunity of visiting Loggun, but sent this morning Karouash to advise with me as to my proceedings, and to
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