March 14.—A very heavy dew had fallen this night, a thing we had not felt since leaving Gatrone, and then but very slightly: in the morning my bornouse, which lay over me, was completely wet through; and on the mat, after daylight, crystalline drops were lying like icicles. On arriving at the lake, Maramy left us, as he said, to look for the elephants, as the sheikh had desired him to take me close to them; and I commenced shooting and examining the beautiful variety of waterfowl that were in thousands sporting on the water, and on its shores. I succeeded in shooting a most beautiful white bird of the crane kind, with black neck and long black bill; and some snipes, which were as numerous as swarms of bees: and in three shots killed four couple of ducks, and one couple of wild geese—these were very handsomely marked, and fine specimens. While I was thus employed, Maramy came galloping up, saying that he had found three very large elephants grazing, to the south-east, close to the water: when we came within a few hundred yards of them, all the persons on foot, and my servant on a mule, were ordered to halt, while four of us, who were mounted, rode up to these stupendous animals. The sheikh’s people began screeching violently: and although at first they appeared to treat our approach with great contempt, yet after a little they moved off, erecting their ears, which had until then hung flat on their shoulders, and giving a roar that shook the ground under us. One was an immense fellow, I should suppose sixteen feet high; the other two were females, and moved away rather quickly, while the male kept in the rear, as if to guard their retreat. We wheeled swiftly round him; and Maramy casting a spear at him, which struck him just under the tail, and seemed to give him about as much pain as when we prick our finger with a pin, the huge beast threw up his proboscis in the air with a loud roar, and from it cast such a volume of sand, that, unprepared as I was for such an event, nearly blinded me. The elephant rarely, if ever, attacks; and it is only when irritated that he is dangerous: but he will sometimes rush upon a man and horse, after choking them with dust, and destroy them in an instant.