THE WAYS OF THE ELEPHANT 71 



some peculiar manner the elephant, in reaching 

 for him, snatched the rifle from his hand and 

 stopped to hammer it on the ground while the 

 black made good his escape. 



Usually, though, after an elephant has knocked 

 a man down it kneels on him or, dropping to 

 its knees, probes him with its tusks. Mr. Carl 

 Akeley, who has visited Africa several times in 

 the interests of various American museums, was 

 nearly killed by an elephant in this manner. 

 His elephant charged at close range, knocked 

 him down, and kneeling, attempted to gore him. 

 He managed to grab the tusks in time to swing 

 his body between them before they descended, 

 and they passed harmlessly on each side. The 

 curled trunk, however, crushed his chest and 

 broke several ribs. When he regained con- 

 sciousness the elephant had gone and his boys 

 had deserted him. The boys finally returned 

 and carried him to camp and it was several 

 months before he fully recovered. 



It is a strange fact that there are very few 

 cases of men being slightly mauled by an 

 elephant. They are either killed outright, 

 mortally wounded, or escape miraculously with 

 nothing more than a general shake-up and a 



