242 THE ELEPHANT. 



perfectly distinct from that of the African. The 

 forehead of the former, when held in the natural 

 position of inaction, is perpendicular; and above 

 the slight convexity at the root of the trunk, there 

 is a depression, in shape like a herald's shield ; a 

 bullet in the lower portion of that shield would 

 reach the brain in a direct line. The head of the 

 African elephant is completely convex from the com- 

 mencement of the trunk to the back of the skull, 

 and the brain is situated much lower than that of 

 the Indian species ; the bone is of a denser quality, 

 and the cases for the reception of the tusks are so 

 closely parallel that there is barely room for a 

 bullet to find a chance of penetrating to the brain ; 

 it must be delivered in the exact centre, and ex- 

 tremely low, in the very root of the trunk ; even 

 then it will frequently pass above the brain, as the 

 animal generally carries his head high, and thrown 

 slightly back. 



Hence, though a forehead-shot at an Indian ele- 

 phant, as testified to by several celebrated Indian 

 sportsmen of my acquaintance, is almost certain 

 death, yet to the African species the chances are 

 that not one bullet out of twenty, though it may 

 stagger him for an instant, or even cause him to 

 deviate from his course, will prove fatal. That such 

 is the fact was strikingly exemplified by Sir Samuel 

 Baker, who tells us that, though he on one occasion 

 lodged three successive balls from a heavily loaded 

 and large-bored rifle in the forehead of a charging 

 elephant (one of them when the creature was at 

 only some four paces distance), they had no other 



