210 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXIV. 



pression which, however ridiculous it must appear, 

 detracted considerably from the satisfaction I ex- 

 perienced. 



The operation of hewing out three pair of tusks 

 occupied several hours, their roots, imbedded in 

 massy sockets, spreading over the greater portion 

 of the face. My Indian friends will marvel when 

 they hear of tusks being extracted from the jaws of 

 a female elephant — but, with very few exceptions, 

 all that we saw had these accessories, measuring 

 from three to four feet in length. I have already 

 stated my belief that the maximum height of the 

 African male is twelve feet ; that of the female 

 averages eight and a half — the enormous mag- 

 nitude of the ears, which not only cover the whole 

 of the shoulder, but overlap each other on the neck, 

 to the complete exclusion of the mahout, or driver, 

 constituting another striking feature of difference 

 between the two species. The forehead is remark- 

 ably large and prominent, and consists of two walls 

 or tables ; between which, a wide cellular space in- 

 tervening, a ball, hardened with tin or quicksilver, 

 readily penetrates to the brain, and proves instan- 

 taneously fatal. 



The barbarous tribes that people Southern Africa 

 have never dreamt of the possibility of rendering 

 this lordly quadruped serviceable in a domestic ca- 

 pacity ; and even amongst the colonists, there exists 

 an unaccountable superstition that his subjugation 

 is not to be accomplished. His capture, however, 

 might readily be achieved ; and, as he appears to 



