F?. Very
great numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses perished
from the want of food and water. A man told me that the deer used
to come into his courtyard to the well, which he had been obliged
to dig to supply his own family with water; and that the partridges
had hardly strength to fly away when pursued. (7/8. In Captain
Owen's "Surveying Voyage" volume 2 page 274, there is a curious
account of the effects of a drought on the elephants, at Benguela
(west coast of Africa). "A number of these animals had some time
since entered the town, in a body, to possess themselves of the
wells, not being able to procure any water in the country. The
inhabitants mustered, when a desperate conflict ensued, which
terminated in the ultimate discomfiture of the invaders, but not
until they had killed one man, and wounded several others." The
town is said to have a population of nearly three thousand! Dr.
Malcolmson informs me, that during a great drought in India the
wild animals entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that a
hare drank out of a vessel held by the adjutant of the regiment.)
The lowest estimation of the loss of cattle in the province of
Buenos Ayres alone, was taken at one million head.
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