ELEPHANTS 



elephants I have killed any number of bullets, mostly 

 round ball, up to a dozen have been picked up from 

 head and body, after the flesh has disappeared, weeks or 

 months afterwards. I am very much of opinion that 

 irritation caused by these old and comparatively slight 

 wounds is accountable for many otherwise harmless, but 

 thievishly disposed, elephants turning " rogue." 



I once saw a very interesting sight in a case of an 

 elephant I had fired at and failed to kill. In running 

 away it ran blindly into a matted mass of thick woody 

 creepers and actually stuck ! It drew back and pushed 

 forward again like a battering ram, but again stuck, though 

 branches flew in all directions, breaking with reports like 

 pistol-shots. Again it retreated a few feet and made a 

 most determined effort, this time smashing its way through, 

 great creepers, twigs and branches cracking, snapping, and 

 flying all over the place. I was so interested in the sight 

 that I did not fire again, but let him go. Of trophies 

 to be secured from our elephants the feet rank first tusks 

 you can leave out of the count there are very few 

 tuskers in Ceylon, besides which they are not allowed to 

 be shot. These feet have to be most carefully cleared 

 out, which is a wearisome job for your coolies, as they 

 are a mass of bone and gristle, and then rubbed inside 

 with burnt alum and saltpetre (Montagu Browne's mix- 

 ture), filled with dry sand or straw, and put out in the 

 sun to dry. Dull weather will soon cause them to 

 " sweat " and go rotten. They make fine footstools, liquor 

 stands, or, if cut long in the leg, umbrella stands. I once 

 designed and got made by Orr of Madras a very neat thing 

 in the shape of bon-bon dishes made out of an elephant's 

 toe nails. I selected the best nails, had them polished, 

 lined with silver, and supported by two silver feet at the 



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