trunk!

Swartboy did not think that he leans against the trunk when first taking
up his position; but that he seeks the tree for the shade it affords,
and as sleep overcomes him he inclines towards it, finding that it
steadies and rests him!

The Bushman stated, moreover, that some elephants have their favourite
trees, to which they return again and again to take a nap during the hot
midday hours,--for that is their time of repose. At night they do not
sleep. On the contrary, the hours of night are spent in ranging about,
on journeys to the distant watering-places, and in feeding; though in
remote and quiet districts they also feed by day--so that it is probable
that most of their nocturnal activity is the result of their dread of
their watchful enemy, man.

Swartboy communicated these facts, as the hunters all together followed
upon the spoor.

The traces of the elephant were now of a different character, from what
they had been before arriving at the ant-hill. He had been browsing as
he went. His nap had brought a return of appetite; and the wait-a-bit
thorns showed the marks of his prehensile trunk. Here and there
branches were broken off, stripped clean of their leaves, and the
ligneous parts left upon the ground. In several places whole trees were
torn up by their roots, and those, too, of considerable size. This the
elephant sometimes does to get at their foliage, which upon such trees
grows beyond the reach of his proboscis. By prostrating them of course
he gets their whole frondage within easy distance of his elastic nose,
and can strip it off at pleasure. At times, however, he tears up a tree
to make a meal of its roots--as there are several species with sweet
juicy roots, of which the elephant is extremely fond. These he drags
out of the ground with his trunk, having first loosened them with his
tusks, used as crowbars. At times he fails to effect his purpose; and
it is only when the ground is loose or wet, as after great rains, that
he can uproot the larger kinds of mimosas. Sometimes he is capricious;
and, after drawing a tree from the ground, he carries it many yards
along with him, flings it to the ground, root upwards, and then leaves
it, after taking a single mouthful. Destructive to the forest is the
passage of a troop of elephants!

Small trees he can tear up with his trunk alone, but to the larger ones
he applies the more powerful leverage of his tusks. These he inserts
under the