this
valuable animal.

The African elephant may be domesticated and trained to the "howdah," or
castle, as easily as his Indian cousin. The trial has been made; but
that it can be done no better proof is required than that at one period
it was done, and upon a large scale. The elephants of the Carthaginian
army were of this species.

The African elephant at present inhabits the central and southern parts
of Africa. Abyssinia on the east, and Senegal on the west, are his
northern limits, and but a few years ago he roamed southward to the very
Cape of Good Hope. The activity of the Dutch ivory-hunters, with their
enormous long guns, has driven him from that quarter; and he is no
longer to be found to the south of the Orange River.

Some naturalists (Cuvier among others) believed the Abyssinian elephant
to be of the Indian species. That idea is now exploded, and there is no
reason to think that the latter inhabits any part of Africa. It is very
likely there are varieties of the African species in different parts of
the continent. It is well-known that those of the tropical regions are
larger than the others; and a _reddish and very fierce_ kind is said to
be met with in the mountains of Africa, upon the river Niger. It is
probable, however, that these _red_ elephants seen have been some whose
bodies were coated with red dust, as it is a habit of elephants to
powder themselves with dust on many occasions, using their trunks as
"dredgers."

Swartboy spoke of a variety well-known among the Hottentot hunters as
the "koes-cops." This kind, he said, differed from the ordinary ones by
its altogether wanting the tusks, and being of a far more vicious
disposition. Its encounter is more dreaded; but as it possesses no
trophies to make it worth the trouble and danger of killing, the hunters
usually give it a wide berth.

Such was the conversation that night around the camp-fire. Much of the
information here given was furnished by Hans, who of course had gathered
it from books; but the Bushman contributed his quota--perhaps of a far
more reliable character. All were destined ere long to make practical
acquaintance with the haunts and habits of this huge quadruped, that to
them had now become the most interesting of all the animal creation.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

"JERKING" AN ELEPHANT.

Next day was one of severe, but joyful labour. It was spent in "curing"
the elephant, not in a _medical_ sense, but in the l