The
Baris are not good hunters, and they merely catch the elephants in
pitfalls; therefore, being free from attack, these animals are
exceedingly daring, and easy to approach.
They are generally attracted by the ripe lalobes, the fruit already
described of the heglik (Balanites Egyptiaca). The trees, if of medium
size, are frequently torn down for the sake of this small production,
that would appear too insignificant for the notice of so huge an animal.
I once had an opportunity of witnessing an elephant's strength exerted
in his search for this small fruit. I was in the Shir country, and one
evening, accompanied by Lieutenant Baker, I strolled into the forest,
about half a mile from our vessels, to watch for waterbuck (Redunca
Ellipsiprymna) in a small glade where I had shot one on the previous
evening.
We had not long been concealed, when I heard a peculiar noise in the
thick forest that denoted the approach of elephants.
We at once retreated to some rising ground about 150 paces distant, as
our small rifles would have been useless against such heavy game. In a
short time several elephants appeared from various portions of the
covert, and one of extraordinary size moved slowly towards us, until he
halted beneath a tall, spreading heglik. This tree must have been nearly
three feet in diameter, and was about thirty feet high from the ground
to the first branch; it was therefore impossible for the elephant to
gather the coveted fruit. To root up such a tree would have been out of
the question. The elephant paused for a short time, as though
considering; he then butted his forehead suddenly against the trunk. I
could not have believed the effect: this large tree, which was equal in
appearance to the average size of park-timber, quivered in every branch
to such a degree, that had a person taken refuge from an elephant, and
thought himself secure in the top, he would have found it difficult to
hold on.
When the lalobes fall, they must be picked up individually and although
the trouble appears disproportioned to the value of the fruit, there is
no food so much coveted by elephants.
Near this spot, on the following day, I had a close adventure with a
hippopotamus. I had gone to the same place where I had seen the
elephants, and I was returning through the forest within a few yards of
the river margin, when, upon suddenly turning round a dense thorn-bush,
I came within four or five paces of a large bull hippopotamus. This
animal had left the river for an evening ramble on the shore, and was
munching some succulent grass with such gusto that he had not heard my
approach.
