x PREFACE. 



equatorial Africa is about 90 lbs. or 100 lbs. the 

 pair. 



It is not my intention to write a treatise upon the 

 African elephant ; this has been already described in 

 the ' Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia,' ' but it will be 

 sufficient to explain that it is by no means an easy 

 beast to kill when in the act of charging. From the 

 peculiar formation of the head, it is almost impossible 

 to kill a bull elephant by the forehead shot ; thus the 

 danger of hunting the African variety is enhanced 

 tenfold. 



The habits of the African elephant are very differ- 

 ent from those of his Indian cousins. Instead of re- 

 tiring to dense jungles at sunrise, the African will be 

 met with in the mid-day glare far away from forests, 

 basking in the hot prairie grass of ten feet high, 

 which scarcely reaches to his withers. 



Success in elephant shooting depends materially 

 upon the character of the ground. In good forests, 

 wheie a close approach is easy, the African species 

 can be killed like the Indian, by one shot either 

 behind the ear or in the temple ; but in open ground, 

 or in high grass, it is both uncertain and extremely 



1 Published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. 



