66 HUNTING TRIPS IN NORTHERN RHODESIA. 



large bodies as any to be found in other parts of the continent, their tusks do not 

 attain the weight of ivory to be found in the Equatorial regions to the north. I have 

 only seen two pairs of tusks which weighed over loolb. for each tusk, and one of 

 these weighed i i81b. when shot. For many years the heaviest tusk known weighed 

 1841b., but this has been exceeded by two tusks which weigh respectively 2351b. 

 and 226^1b. 



The former of these beautiful trophies belongs to Sir Edmund Loder, who owns 

 (or owned, perhaps) the 1841b. tusk. The 226^1b. tusk is in the South Kensington 

 Museum. All these tusks came from Equatorial Africa and were probably killed by 

 Swahili or native hunters. The length of the 2351b. tusk is loft. 4in., with a 

 circumference of 26in. 



The longest tusk known is one that measures lift. 5^in., with a circumference 

 of iS^in. 



Perhaps the largest tusker shot by a white man was one killed by Major Powell 

 Cotton in the Congo, which gave a weight of 3721b. for the pair, the larger tusk 

 weighing 1981b., 25in. circumference, and 9ft. long. It must have been a pleasant 

 moment for the hunter when he stood and looked at such a trophy. 



The late Mr. A. H. Neumann, who probably killed three times as many elephants 

 as any man, shot a number of elephants with tusks weighing over loolb. each, but he 

 never shot one over 1 2olb. 



A big tusker is just as easy to kill as a moderate one, and, in fact, some of the 

 bull elephants bearing the heaviest tusks are smaller in the body than ordinary 

 tuskers. The same applies to antelopes, for I ^have often found that the beasts with 

 the finest horns are generally moderately sized animals. 



Mr. Neumann, in his book " Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa," gives 

 the standing height of some of his biggest bulls, and the largest he mentions was 

 loft. 9in. at the shoulder. 



A big pair of elephant tusks, if they are long and gracefully shaped, form one of 

 the finest trophies the sportsman can hope to get ; and it is still quite possible that a 

 record tusker haunts the dark forest of the Congo, or some of the untrodden wilds of 

 Equatorial Africa. The hunter that has the luck to shoot him will be envied. I think 

 there is a great deal of luck connected with getting big tusks, for sometimes men who 

 have never shot an elephant stumble on a large one at once, when other men who have 

 shot elephants for years may never have got anything bigger than a sixty-pounder. 

 It is the same with record horns. 



When approaching elephants it is a mistake to take more than one man, and the 

 others ought to be left behind to await events. If the wind is steady, never be in a 



