old bull elephant, which led us into a dense forest, where the ground
was particularly unfavorable for spooring; we, however, threaded it
out for a considerable distance, when it joined the spoor of other
bulls.

The natives now requested me to halt, while the men went off in
different directions to reconnoitre. In the mean time a tremendous
conflagration was roaring and crackling close to windward of us. It
was caused by the Bakalahari burning the old dry grass to enable the
young to spring up with greater facility, whereby they retained the
game in their dominions. The fire stretched away for many miles on
either side of us, darkening the forest far to leeward with a dense
and impenetrable canopy of smoke. Here we remained for about half an
hour, when one of the men returned, reporting that he had discovered
elephants. This I could scarcely credit, for I fancied that the
extensive fire which raged so fearfully must have driven, not only
elephants, but every living creature out of the district, The native,
however, pointed to his eye, repeating the word "Klow," and signed to
me to follow him.

My guide led me about a mile through dense forest, when we reached a
little wellwood hill, to whose summit we ascended, whence a view might
have been obtained of the surrounding country, had not volumes of
smoke obscured the scenery far and wide, as though issuing from the
funnels of a thousand steamboats. Here, to my astonishment, my guide
halted, and pointed to the thicket close beneath me, when I instantly
perceived the colossal backs of a herd of bull elephants. There they
stood quietly browsing on the lee side of the hill, while the fire in
its might was raging to windward within two hundred yards of them.