REMARKS ON THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT AND ITS TUSKS. 67 



great hurry to shoot, but wait until the beast presents a good position for the brain or 

 body shot. The brain shot is the neater and most decisive one, for if hit properly 

 the animal collapses at once. If an elephant drops and utters even the slightest cry, 

 shoot again quickly, for an elephant shot in the brain never has time to give vent to a 

 sound. With the heart shot the animal may run any distance between forty and four 

 hundred yards, and will naturally have to be followed quickly, for one never can tell 

 exactly if the heart has been struck, and it is always advisable to shoot at the 

 beast until he comes down. Even when down on his knees or side, he may have the 

 strength to get up again, especially from the knee position. Once an animal lies fiat on 

 his side he is usually a " goner," so to speak, but this is not an invariable rule. 



Many good elephants have been lost through neglecting to shoot until they are 

 dead, and cases have been known of apparently dead elephants getting up in the 

 night and going ofi. 



A wounded elephant or rhino usually walks on until he drops, and it is seldom 

 that such an animal is recovered unless he is overtaken quickly. In the olden days, 

 when a hunter could kill as many elephants as he liked, it was the custom to run after 

 them, and Mr. Selous once told me that he had sometimes run elephants to a 

 standstill, when the weather was very hot and the going hard. While carrying the 

 heavy old 4-bore rifle that used to be used long ago this must have been as hard 

 exercise as it is possible to imagine, and it was only men in the best of training and 

 condition that could keep the game up for long. 



There is a saying that every man who hunts dangerous game will be killed 

 himself eventually, if he only keeps at it long enough. This may be so ; but if there 

 were no risk, where would the sport come in ? 



. It is certainly more dangerous to tackle elephants with a rifle of '303 bore than 

 it is with a '450 or '500 cordite rifle ; and, perhaps, it would be better to strike 

 the happy mean, and use a rifle of 350 or "360 calibre. 



There is one distinct advantage in the use of a small or medium bore, and that is 

 the extreme accuracy with which one can shoot ; for a small bullet in the right place 

 is much better than a large one in the wrong place. 



KHINO FOOT. 



