28o THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



elephant was not my old circus friend at all, but a beast 

 two and a half feet taller, very much longer, and pos- 

 sessed of a truculent disposition. Nobody has suc- 

 cessfully domesticated the African elephant, much less 

 taught him to work and be useful. Carthage used him 

 in war, but even for that purpose was able to employ 

 only the immature beasts of a northerly race now ex- 

 tinct. In the second place, the African elephant — un- 

 less one makes a special very long unhealthy journey 

 — is to be found only in thick forests where one can see 

 but a few yards in any direction. The hunter has to 

 approach very near before he can see to shoot. Further- 

 more, since the law prohibits the shooting of cows and 

 of bulls with tusks that weigh less than thirty pounds 

 each, he must maneuver to examine his beast, and 

 must arrange to back out again — -undiscovered — if the 

 elephant is not the right sort of an elephant. As there 

 may be forty others scattered about, and as any of the 

 forty, on getting his wind, will tell the others about 

 him, and as the lot will probably then try deliberately 

 to kill him, it will be seen that the game is not so sim- 

 ple as it first appears. Furthermore, an elephant can 

 travel faster than a man; he can break any tree the 

 ordinary man can climb; and he is exceedingly per- 

 sistent. And, finally, it is not at all like shooting at a 

 barn. There is just one spot, three inches wide by 

 seven inches long, where a shot is instantly fatal; and 

 only a few other small places where a shot even does 



