From the huge size of its body and tusks, the African elephant affords, if any thing, a better opportunity of testing the skill and endurance of the hunter than its Asiatic ally. In former years, the great game was found from the Southern limit of Sahara to Cape Town; but so insatiate has been the greed for ivory, that it has been gradually driven from the more exposed tracts, and is now confined to the most unfrequented parts of the great continent; and as it is only with great difficulty and incalculable hardship that it can be followed, the animal is rarely hunted at the present day for pure sport, the ivory tusks alone being the desideratum. As about one hundred thousand elephants are killed every year, and they are slow breeders, their utter extermination seems only a matter of time. If the present depletion of the numbers of the African species continues, it will be but a memory of the past in a comparatively few years. The African elephant is followed in several ways. Some hunters, as Baldwin, prefer to depend upon horses, and, so mounted, follow the herd at full speed, leaping from the saddle, firing quickly, and avoiding the charge by the fleetness of the horse. Others, as Selous, prefer shooting on foot. The latter met with an extraordinary adventure while following a fine elephant, and narrowly escaped. The following is his account:— “My horse was now so tired that he stood well; so, reining in, I gave her a shot from his back between the neck and the shoulder, which I believe just stopped her from charging. On receiving this wound, she backed a few paces, gave her ears a flap against her sides, and then stood facing me again. I had just taken out the empty cartridge, and was about to put a fresh one in, when, seeing that she looked very vicious, and as I was not thirty yards from her, I caught the bridle, and turned the horse’s head away, so as to be ready for a fair start in case of a charge. I was still holding my rifle with the breech open, when I saw that she was coming. Digging the spurs into my horse’s ribs, I did my best to get him away; but he was so thoroughly done, that instead of springing forwards, which was what the emergency required, he only started at a walk, and was just breaking into a canter when the elephant was upon us. I heard two short, sharp screams above my head, and had just time to think it was all over with me, when, horse and all, I was dashed to the ground. For a few seconds I was half stunned by the violence of the shock; and the first thing I became aware of, was a very strong smell of elephant. At the same instant, I felt that I was still unhurt, and that, though in an unpleasant predicament, I had still a chance for life. I was, however, pressed down on the ground in such a way that I could not extricate my head. At last, with a violent effort I wrenched myself loose, and threw my body over sideways, so that I rested on my hands. As I did so, I saw