The Ruined Cities of ZululandWalmsley, Hugh Mulleneux
History
The Ruined Cities of Zululand
Walmsley, Hugh Mulleneux
South Africa -- Description and travel; Zululand (South Africa)
They soon found it, leading from the trampled river bank up the slope,
and entering the wood, they at once came upon the animal itself, lying
quite dead on its side; a young tree having been borne down by the heavy
weight, had broken short off and lay under it. Standing near was the
young elephant, waiting for its dead mother to wake, and on the approach
of the party it struck the carcass several times with its trunk, and
failing to rouse it, trotted away in a lumbering fashion, its trunk
raised in the air, then turned to look. Like the baboon, it showed no
fear, barely refusing to be caught. The men were set to work to cut out
the tusks, but being unpractised hands, it took them all day to do it.
The best parts of the meat were brought into camp, and then the jackals
and hyenas assembled in large numbers, holding high carnival, while the
tusks, together with the panther and lion skins, remained as a memento
of the night. For two days the party halted on this spot, and each
night the one or other watched the pool, with varying success, but not
seeing any more elephants, and only hearing the lions in the distance.
Still travelling northwards, they pushed on through a fertile country,
which gradually became more and more of forest. Elephants were often
seen, but it was useless to encumber their march by carrying the tusks,
and Wyzinski's sole purpose seemed to be the finding of the supposed
ruins. Giraffe, buffalo, antelope of all kinds, quaggas, and zebra,
were plentiful, while an occasional lion was seen. The hippopotami and
rhinoceros were often met with on the river banks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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