The depth of the loose sand was in favor of the elephant, and was so much against the men that they avoided his charges with extreme difficulty. It was only by the determined pluck of all three that they alternately saved one another, as two invariably dashed in at the flanks when the elephant charged the third, upon which the cautious animal immediately gave up the chase, and turned upon his pursuers.

During this time I had been laboring through the heavy sand, and shortly after I arrived at the fight, the elephant charged directly through the aggageers, receiving a shoulder shot from one of my large rifles, and at the same time a slash from the sword of one of the men who, with great dexterity and speed, had closed in behind him just in time to reach the leg.

Unfortunately, he could not deliver the cut in the right place, as the elephant, with increased speed, completely distanced the aggageers, and charging across the deep sand, reached the jungle.

We were shortly upon his track, and, after running about a quarter of a mile, found him dead in a dry water-course. His tusks, like those of the generality of Abyssinian elephants, were exceedingly short, but of good thickness.

Some of our men, who had followed the runaway horses, shortly returned and reported that during the fight they had heard other elephants trumpeting in the dense jungle near the river.

A portion of thick forest of about two hundred acres, upon this side of the river, was a tempting covert for elephants, and the aggageers, who were perfectly familiar with the habits of the animals,

positively declared that the herd must be within

this jungle.

Accordingly we proposed to skirt the margin of the river, which, as it made a bend at right angles, commanded two sides of a square. Upon reaching the jungle by the river side, we again heard the trumpeting of an elephant, and about a quarter of a mile distant we observed a herd of twelve of these animals, shoulder-deep in the river.

They were in the act of crossing to the opposite side, to secrete themselves in an almost impenetrable jungle of thorny hedge.

The aggageers advised that we should return to the ford that we had already crossed, assuring us that by repassing the river, we should most probably meet the elephants, as they would not leave the thick jungle until night.

Having implicit confidence in their knowledge of the country, I followed their directions, and shortly afterward we recrossed the ford, and arrived upon a dry portion of the river's bed, banked by a dense thicket.

Notes. The hunting of elephants to obtain their tusks, has been almost entirely given up. In this country hard rubber and celluloid are manufactured into a great variety of useful articles, many of which were formerly made of ivory.

Describe the location of Abyssinia.

Language.— "Having the wind fair" in hunting, means that the wind is blowing toward the hunters, and not from them toward the animals hunted.

What figure of comparison is employed in the expression "Nimble as monkeys?"

Forsaken their horses means that the aggageers left their horses and went toward the elephants. To abandon any thing is to leave it with no intention of returning. To desert is to leave in direct violation of duty.

We all

Jali now took the management of affairs. dismounted and sent the horses to a considerable distance, lest they should, by some noise, disturb the elephants. We soon heard a crackling in the jungle on our right, and Jali assured us that, as he had expected, the elephants were slowly advancing through the jungle on the bank of the river, and would pass exactly before us.

We waited patiently in the bed of the river, and the crackling in the jungle sounded closer as the herd evidently approached. The strip of thick, thorny covert that fringed the margin, was in no place wider than half a mile; beyond that, the country was open and park-like, but at this season it was covered with parched grass, from eight to ten feet high: the elephants would, therefore, most probably remain in the jungle until driven out.

In about a quarter of an hour we heard, by the noise in the jungle, about a hundred yards from the river, that the elephants were directly opposite