As we advanced along the bank we became aware that large game occupied the other side of the river. The dense forest prevented our seeing them, but there was no mistaking the sounds. Elephants were near, by the breaking of branches and the constant rumbling sound of their bowels. The river was too deep and dangerous to cross, therefore I had no choice left but to remain quiet and concealed in the shadow of the beautiful trees, the branches of which overhung the river. We knew they were approaching the river to drink. After waiting some twenty minutes, one by one they pushed themselves through the undergrowth that lined the steep bank, and made for the water, standing in a row close together, sucking up with their trunks the water into their immense throats, an operation that looks ridiculous, a sight seldom to be seen in daylight. To have fired upon them would have been cruel, as there was no possibility of getting their tusks even if we had killed them; we therefore watched with intense interest this interesting sight. After satisfying their thirst, they walked into the river until they were half submerged, throwing water over their backs, and flapping their immense ears against their sides, making a peculiar noise, evidently enjoying the bath immensely, pawing the water with their huge legs; and then returned to the forest, to browse on the young and tender branches of their favourite trees. There were thirty-seven full-grown, and eleven young ones of various sizes. It was with difficulty I could restrain my boys from giving them a shot. To see elephants, the largest of all animals, in their native wilds roaming undisturbed, and note their habits and actions, is most interesting. These gigantic animals care very little for crocodiles or hippopotami; but the rhinoceros often kills them. Their long legs, being six feet in length, and nearly three feet round, are very formidable when used in their own defence, either on land or water, without the aid of their five feet of tusks. At the present time these splendid animals are never seen in these parts, where formerly they were so plentiful. Mr. John Viljoen, the Boer who came north after the Bloomplaats fight in 1848, thirty-seven years ago, and settled in Marico, told me that the whole of that district swarmed with elephants and every other kind of large game, as also in the neighbourhood of Rustenburg, Pretoria, and other localities more south; now they are seldom seen south of the Limpopo, except in the country to the east, under the chief Umzela. In the trees on the opposite shore, and in the forest behind us, large grey monkeys, with black faces, were busy watching us. There appeared to be hundreds, and as they swung from branch to branch, with the young ones following their mothers, they made the forest look lively. They travel on the tops of the trees faster than you can run below.