f the elephants were females, and
had only a single tusk apiece, and were each killed by the first shot. It
is always a case of famine or satiety when depending on the rifle for
food--a glut of meat or none at all. Most frequently it is scanty fare,
except when game is abundant, as it is far up the Zambesi. We had one
morning two hippopotami and an elephant, perhaps in all some eight tons
of meat, and two days after the last of a few sardines only for dinner.

One morning when sailing past a pretty thickly-inhabited part, we were
surprised at seeing nine large bull-elephants standing near the beach
quietly flapping their gigantic ears. Glad of an opportunity of getting
some fresh meat, we landed and fired into one. They all retreated into a
marshy piece of ground between two villages. Our men gave chase, and
fired into the herd. Standing on a sand hummock, we could see the
bleeding animals throwing showers of water with their trunks over their
backs. The herd was soon driven back upon us, and a wounded one turned
to bay. Yet neither this one, nor any of the others, ever attempted to
charge. Having broken his legs with a rifle-ball, we fired into him at
forty yards as rapidly as we could load and discharge the rifles. He
simply shook his head at each shot, and received at least sixty Enfield
balls before he fell. Our excellent sailor from the north of Ireland
happened to fire the last, and, as soon as he saw the animal fall, he
turned with an air of triumph to the Doctor and exclaimed, "It was _my_
shot that done it, sir!"

In a few minutes upwards of a thousand natives were round the prostrate
king of beasts; and, after our men had taken all they wanted, an
invitation was given to the villagers to take the remainder. They rushed
at it like hungry hyenas, and in an incredibly short time every inch of
it was carried off. It was only by knowing that the meat would all be
used that we felt justified in the slaughter of this noble creature. The
tusks weighed 62 lbs. each. A large amount of ivory might be obtained
from the people of Nyassa, and we were frequently told of their having it
in their huts.

While detained by a storm on the 17th October at the mouth of the Kaombe,
we were visited by several men belonging to an Arab who had been for
fourteen years in the interior at Katanga's, south of Cazembe's. They
had just brought down ivory, malachite, copper rings, and slaves to
exchange for cloth at the lak