194 THE ELEPHANTS CHARACTER. 



off; but should a man suddenly appear within a few yards of them, he will 

 be charged perhaps oftener by elephants than by any other animals. But in 

 this case the elephant's position is analogous to that of a timid man, who, 

 with a stick in his hand, is suddenly confronted by a cobra. He would 

 naturally strike at it in self-defence, though he might be glad to let it pass 

 if it crossed his path at some distance. 



The elephant's whole character is pervaded by extreme timidity, and to 

 this, rather than to deliberate daring, must be ascribed much of the charging 

 when a herd is suddenly encountered. I consider it decidedly exceptional 

 for any elephant, in a position where it has time for reflection and the option 

 of retreat, to attack a man. Solitary elephants, which have occasionally 

 made themselves troublesome by killing passers-by on main roads, have 

 invariably been animals that have become accustomed to man, through their 

 habit of frequenting fields and the neighbourhood of villages, and which, 

 through being constantly molested by watchers, have become morose and 

 dangerous. There have been notable instances of these elephants becom- 

 ing both suspicious and revengeful, as stated by Sir Samuel Baker. In 

 usually retreating before man, the wild elephant shows no inferiority in 

 courage to other jungle animals, as they all retire from his intrusion. In 

 jungles where elephants are not harassed, they are eminently unsuspicious 

 and inoffensive. 



My own modest experience in elephant-shooting rests upon only about 

 twenty elephants bagged. I lost several others when I first commenced, 

 however, and I have had a good deal to do with troublesome animals, 

 whilst driving them into the kheddahs, so that I have seen more of ele- 

 phants under excitement than merely on the occasions when I have shot 

 them. I may also say that most I have bagged have been picked ones, 

 some of them proscribed as notoriously troublesome and dangerous animals, 

 or they have been determined beasts met with in the herds whilst engaged 

 in the capture of their fellows. I cannot understand any person's wilfully 

 shooting female elephants, except as in Ceylon, where their numbers at one 

 time had to be thinned, as they were becoming too numerous. Females, 

 no doubt, give as good sport as males — in fact, they are always the first 

 to charge ; but they carry no trophies, and the sportsman with any romance 

 in his nature will let them pass if only in consideration to their sex. 



The art of approaching elephants successfully, and of picking out the par- 

 ticular animal wanted amongst a large body, requires practice. When a large 

 herd is grazing in detachments, as a large herd always does, each separate 

 group has to be examined for the tuskers, and the sportsman is likely to be 

 winded, and the alarm given, before the search is successful, unless he knows 



