1775• moreover well defended by a thick, and hard cranium. November. pkewife correfponds with what is previoufly known with regard to this animal; but from what has been faid above, it is ¡evident, that two or three hundred people •could not poflibly have any trouble in ihooting one eie- .phant, (a fadt which however is related by M. B u f f o n , page i i , from B o s m a n ’s Voyage to Guinea, page 2.54,) unlefs the fire-arms, as well as the fportfmen, are mifer- jable indeed : much lefs does it require a whole army, as the former author fuppoies it does, to attack a herd of elephants. In fadt, this, in Africa, is often attempted by a fingle diuntfman, when provided with a fleet horfe ufed to hunting, and who at the fame time finds the elephants on the ■plains before him. In fb doing, he hardly runs any greater •rifle than when he has only one of theie animals to attack. J n this cafe, the youngeft elephants are wont to fly firft ; but one or two of the old ones, who have the ftrongeft ¿teeth, and are the very identical animals the fportfmen wiih to have to do with, fometimes, perhaps, will run after him; but as they are foon weary ancLturn back again, the fportfman turns upon them again, and always finds an .opportunity of ihooting fome of them. When one o f thefe beafts is' hit only upon the hip, it is generally faid, that he has received earneft of the huntfman, as he is rendered lame by it, and in confequence of this may ex- pedt. from them a more , dangerous wound before he can be able to get off. The larger the. elephant’s teeth are, and the older the animals are themfelves, the heavier and flower likewife they are faid to be, and find it more difficult to ■efcape. When the fun has ihone extremely hot, they have have been generally found very weak and weary, fo that fome people have ventured forth on foot to ihoot them. Some Hottentots, who are trained up to ihooting, and often carried out by the farmers for this purpofe, are particularly daring in this point; as they are fwifter in running, and at the fame time, not without reafon, fuppofe that they have a lefs fufpicious appearance than the white people in the eyes o f the elephants and other animals; and, 011 account o f the rank odour they have, (fomewhat like that of game) which proceeds from their ikin-cloaks, their greafe, and their bucku powder* are lefs liable to be dif- covered by the fcent. When the elephant finds himfelf wounded, he is faid not to offer to defend himfelf from his enemies, and fometimes not even to .fly from them, but to ftand ftill to cool himfelf, and fprinkle himfelf with the water, which he now and then keeps in referve in his probofcis. Whenever he comes to a piece o f water, and finds himfelf warm, he fucks up fome of it, in order to fprinkle himfelf with it. It is already well known to naturalifts, that the elephant’s haunts are generally near the rivers; neither are they ignorant of the care and regularity with which, in Alia, thofe that are rendered tame, are taken to water in order to be waffled : fo that it did not feem at all incredible to me, that the elephants fliould fometimes be found, as I am informed they often are, in the dry torrid fields of Africa, quite faint and dying with thirft. One perfon affured me, that in a marfliy place, or, more properly fpeaking, a place full of land-fprings, {fontein grund) he had obferved pretty diftindt traces of elephants having lain there. All the accounts 1 could colled!, V o l . I. T t agreed
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