lls near, in
search of riet-bok, when we saw two strange Caffres coming towards us.
These Caffres, we knew by the "_esikoko_" (the ring on the top of their
heads), came from the east, near the bay of Natal. Having given them
the usual salutation, we said, "_Chela pela s'indaba_" ("tell us the
news"), when they told us that a large herd of elephants was coming down
the country, and had done much damage to the corn-gardens of the Caffres
on the way, breaking down the fences, eating and treading down the corn.
They said there were two bull-elephants, very savage, in the herd, who
ran after any man they saw or scented; and that three Caffres, near the
Umlass river, had been killed by these elephants.

A herd of elephants visiting a country where the inhabitants are as
defenceless as were these Caffres, is a serious matter. Assagies were
little or no use against elephants; and if a regular attack was
organised against them, in the same manner as we had attacked the
buffaloes, we should probably have ten or twenty men killed, and after
all not kill the elephant. The corn-gardens, on which we depended for
our store of food, might be destroyed; and then there might be, if not
starvation, at least great scarcity of grain. So that to prevent the
elephants from coming our way was considered most important. There was
a great council held the evening after the news was brought; and it was
decided that we should send some men towards the east, to find out when
the elephants came near us; and on their approach we were to light fires
in their track and make noises, so as to try and make them travel in
another direction. To turn them back would not have been a proceeding
pleasant to the Caffres east of us, but yet we should have liked it, as
it would rid us of the animals.

There was nothing talked about during the next week besides the
elephants, and I learned much about these animals and their habits from
the Caffres. These elephants, I was told, came down the country each
year: they did so when the umbrella acacia had its young branches and
shoots; for on this tree and several others the elephants fed. In its
wild state the elephant lives almost entirely on the branches of trees.
These it breaks off with its trunk, eats the smaller branches, and
grinds the larger to pieces so as to extract the juice from them. It is
at night that the elephant usually travels and feeds: by day, especially
if it be very hot, he remains quiet