Hunting and hunted in the Belgian Congo (1914) (14793088063)

Bridge, Uganda Railway
Identifier: huntinghuntedinb00cooprich (find matches)
Title: Hunting and hunted in the Belgian Congo
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Cooper, Reginald Davey
Subjects: Hunting -- Congo (Democratic Republic) Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Description and travel
Publisher: London, Smith, Elder
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN



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than a hundred yards ahead,nine elephants bunched together grazing and snapping twigs off tree and bush: even as I gazed, one of them on the far side put up its trunk and brought down a huge branch off the tree close by. There appeared to be only one decent-sized brute among them, and he was in the centre. We crouched down and waited to obtain a better view of them. I could not see the head of the large animal, but the others seemed to be all females. In a few minutes they opened out: yes, the large one was a bull. I could now see his tusks gleaming white in the sun as he swung round almost facing me. Resting the•450 on a friendly bough, I waited until a chance offered for the heart shot. The huge ears which were flapping idly made it difficult for me to gauge where to fire for the brain, so I determined on the heart. Bang ! went my right barrel, the huge beast stumbled, but recovered itself, the others cleared away in a flash, with ears spread out and trunks raised high. The bull swung round a 84
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ELEPHANT AND HIPPOPOTAMUS moment later, bringing up the rear. The earth trembled as they set off, trees and branches crashed down right and left. We started at once in pursuit and after following up the reddened trail for several hours we espied the elephants in a glade just ahead with only half their bodies visible above the tall grass. The bull stood apart from the others. Taking shelter behind a tree I got ready again, and in two minutes another shot rang out and he came down with a crash of trees and bush. On account of the long grass it was hard to tell, from where I was, whether it was safe to advance; so Matakanga scaled a tree close by and looking down on the brute from above was able to assure us that he was dead. I advanced, taking care to keep clear of the trunk. A shot in the back of the head seemed to quench the last spark of activity in the enormous creature, but I would not allow the boys to approach until I had given him a few more rounds. In a short time the work of cutting out the i