86 The Wild Elephant. 



cover, but, if bold at all, far more dangerous in cover 

 than in open ground. 



In searching for them, sportsmen often avail them- 

 selves of the expertness of the native trackers ; and 

 notwithstanding the demonstration of Combe that the 

 brain of the timid Singhalese is deficient in the organ of 

 destructiveness,* he shows an instinct for hunting, and 

 exhibits in the pursuit of the elephant a courage and 

 adroitness far surpassing in interest the mere handling of 

 the rifle, which is the principal share of the proceeding 

 that falls to his European companions. 



The beater on these occasions has the double task of 

 finding the game and carrying the guns ; and, in an 

 animated communication to me, an experienced sports- 

 man describes " this light and active creature, with his 

 long glossy hair hanging down his shoulders, every 

 muscle quivering with excitement ; and his countenance 

 lighting up with intense animation, leaping from rock to 

 rock, as nimble as a chamois, tracking the gigantic game 

 like a blood-hound, falling behind as he comes up with 

 it, and as the elephants, baffled and irritated, make the 

 first stand, passing one rifle into your eager hand and 

 holding the other ready whilst right and left each barrel 

 performs its mission, and if fortune does not flag, and 

 the second gim is as successful as the first, three or four 

 huge carcases are piled one on another within a space 

 equal to the area of a dining room." ^ 



It is curious that in these encounters the herd never 



' System of Phrenology, by Geo. " Private letter from Capt. Philip 

 Combe, vol. i. p. 256. Payne Gallwey. 



