-•) The .\frir;in I'^lcphnnt 



nuinh':r of shots — \\ity or more- -to kill a lar^;': old ImiII. 

 It is a well-known fact, too, that wh<!r(;as, in districts where 

 nature is lavoiirahle to them, elephants have souii'l and 

 undamaged tusks, in hilly nei^hhourhof^ds they are olt'-n 

 broken. There are various th'-ori'-s to acc^nu for this. 

 It is douhtless caused chiefly \jy the way in wliich they 

 tear u]> the roots of trees. I'olIowiiiL^ herds in narrow 

 passes, I have often com(,- iijjon lari^e nutnhers of ])\'^ 

 pieces of tusks hroken off in steep and ro(k\ places. I 

 have pj'eserved several such pieces in my collection. 



'i he eleph;uit uses his tusks with i^reat skill in tearini.^ 

 off the hark from trees. He chews this h;irk or sucks 

 out til'; sap and then throws it away. Ih: chiefly attacks 

 trees of which ]](t can detach the hark with f^nr* j^rod 

 of his tusk without stopjjin^'. 1 could often f(;llow the 

 track (jf the herds for i]iiles hy the hc\\) of these marks 

 on the tre(;-trunks. It set me thinking of Rohinson 

 (Jrusoe, who rec(jrds the same tiling. Oiv: olte'i fjnds, 

 too, smaller trees which have heen fjuite tr<Klden down 

 (jr snapjjed in two. 1 fancy that the rending ofT of the 

 hark and th'*. hreakini; 'jf the trees hel]js lo fle\'elop 

 the tusks, a];art Irom the exercise fjhtained hy the f)^htin;( 

 of the hulls amonL^st themselves. In some cas(is the 

 hranches of the trees seemed to he hroken off without 

 any desire for forKl on the ]jart (jf the animal which made 

 the onslau'^'iu. 



The tracks of the ele]>hants are often extraordinarily 

 deej; in the " Masika " — the rainy season. In the dry 

 sand ()\ the velt during the, drought one can tell 

 whether the track is a recent one or not hy the foot- 



147 



