7S WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



rap was only adjusted previous to loading, as a necessary precaution. 

 This half-|M>und shell was proj>cllcd by a charge of 1G drams of 

 coarse-grained jxnvdcr. 



I never fired this rille without killing the animal, but the weapon 

 could not Ixj claimed as a pleasant companion, the recoil being 

 terrific. The arrangement of the cap UJKHI a broad-mouthed nipple 

 prevented the instantaneous explosion that would have taken place 

 with a picratc of j>otash shell. A fraction of a second was required 

 to explode the cap upon impact, and for the cap to ignite the burst- 

 ing charge ; this allowed sullieicnt time for the shell to penetrate 

 to the centre of an elephant before the complete ignition had taken 

 place. The destruction occasioned by the half-ounce of powder 

 confined within the body of an elephant may be imagined. 



I tried this shell at the forehead of a hippopotamus, which was 

 an admirable test of penetration before bursting. It went through 

 the brain, knocked out the back of the skull, and exploded within 

 the neck, completely destroying the vertebra; of the spine, which 

 were reduced to pulp, and perforating a tunnel blackened with gun- 

 powder several feet in length, along which I could pass my arm to 

 the shoulder. The terminus of the tunnel contained small frag- 

 ments of lead and iron, pieces of which were found throughout the 

 course of the explosion. 



The improvements in modern rifles will, within the next half- 

 century, be utterly destructive to the African elephant, which is 

 unprotected by laws in the absence of all government. For many 

 ages these animals have contended with savage man in unremitting 

 warfare, but the lance and arrow have been powerless to extermin- 

 ate, and the natural sagacity of the elephant has been sufficient to 

 preserve it from wholesale slaughter among pitfalls and other 

 snares. The heavy brcechloading ritle in the hands of experienced 

 hunters is a weapon which nothing can withstand, and the elephants 

 will be driven far away into the wilderness of an interior where 

 they will be secure from the improved firearms of our modern 

 civilisation. 



It is much to l>e regretted that no system has been organised in 

 Africa for capturing and training the wild elephants, instead of 

 harrying them to destruction. In a country where beasts of burden 

 are unknown, as in equatorial Africa, it appears incredible that the 

 power and the intelligence of the elephant have been completely 

 ignored. The ancient coins of Carthage exhibit the African 

 elephant, which in those remote days was utilised by the Cartha- 

 ginians ; but a native of Africa, if of the Nrgro type, will never 

 tame an animal, he onlv dt^trovs. 



