EXTINCT ELEPHANTS 1141 



exactness in the spot where the brain unites with the nape of the neck. The blow 

 falls like a thunder clap; and if the trap is well made, the elephant struggles and dies." 



The European sportsman kills the African elephant either by lying 

 s in wait at one of its drinking places, or by attacking it in the open, 

 either on foot or on horseback. At the present day, however, most or all of the 

 elephants remaining in Southeastern Africa are restricted to districts infested by the 

 tsetse fly, where horses cannot exist, and the pursuit must consequently be under- 

 taken on foot. Owing to the conformation of its skull, the front shot, so frequently 

 employed in the case of the Indian elephant, is ineffectual with the African species, 

 and there are but two spots where a bullet may be expected to prove fatal; one of 

 these being in the head behind the eye, and the other in the shoulder immediately 

 behind the flap of the ear. 



Stories of hairbreadth escapes from charges of the African elephant may be 

 reckoned by the score, but we cannot refrain from quoting one narrated by Mr. 

 Selous. That gentleman had wounded a female elephant at a time when his horse 

 was thoroughly knocked up. On a sudden the beast turned to charge, before there 

 was time to get a fair start. " Digging the spurs into my horse's ribs," writes the 

 narrator, " I did may best to get him away, but he was so thoroughly done that, 

 instead of springing forward, which was what the emergency required, he only 

 started at a walk, and was just breaking into a canter when the elephant was upon 

 us. I heard two short, sharp screams above my head, and had just time to think it 

 was all over with me, when, horse and all, I was dashed to the ground. For a few 

 seconds I was half stunned by the violence of the shock, and the first thing I be- 

 came aware of was a very strong smell of elephant. At the same instant I felt that 

 I was still unhurt, and that, though in an unpleasant predicament, I had still a 

 chance for life. I was, however, pressed down on the ground in such a way that I 

 could not extricate my head. At last, with a violent effort, I wrenched myself 

 loose, and threw my body over sideways so that I rested on my hands. As I did so 

 I saw the hind-legs of the elephant standing like two pillars before me, and at once 

 grasped the situation. She was on her knees, with her head and tusks in the 

 ground, and I had been pressed down under her chest, but luckily behind her fore- 

 legs. Dragging myself from under her, I regained my feet, and made a hasty re- 

 treat; having had rather more than enough of elephants for the time being." 



Although highly appreciated by the natives, the flesh of the African 



elephant is coarse and rank in the extreme; portions of the trunk, 



although tough, are, however, said to be fairly good. Baked elephant's foot, cooked 



in the skin, and scooped out like a Stilton cheese, was formerly considered a dainty, 



but most of those who have tasted it of late years express their disapproval. 



EXTINCT ELEPHANTS 



In addition to the mammoth, there are a number of other extinct elephants 

 more or less closely allied to the living species, together with others of a totally dif- 

 ferent type. The whole of these are confined to Europe, Asia, and North Africa; 

 the only American species being the Columbian elephant alluded to above. 



