252 THE ELEP1IANT. 



Many people profess to be able to judge of the 

 age of the elephant by his tusks ; but to my notions 

 they are a very uncertain criterion. In this opinion 

 I am borne out by my friend, Frederick Green, who 

 has probably killed as many of those animals as any 

 man in Southern Africa. In a note to me he says : 



" I do not think, as a general rule, that the age 

 of the elephant can be ascertained by the size and 

 solidity of his tusks ; for instance, a large bull may 

 be observed with very small tusks. From the 

 appearance of the latter before they are taken out of 

 the head, he would be set down as a young elephant, 

 but one is surprised to find that the tusks are very 

 solid, or with a very small hollow in the root ; he is 

 then looked on as an old bull. On the other hand, 

 an elephant, similar in proportions, is shot with an 

 immense pair of tusks, say ninety, or even one 

 hundred, pounds each a rare occurrence in this 

 part of Africa, I grant. He is of course termed a 

 very old bull, but when these tusks are examined 

 they are found to be very hollow, and, if solid in the 

 same proportion as the others, would perhaps attain 

 a weight of a hundred and twenty or thirty pounds. 

 I have remarked this on many occasions, both in 

 elephants killed and in tusks bartered. Again, a 

 large bull is frequently to be met with having 

 ridiculously small tusks, perhaps not exceeding 

 fourteen or sixteen pounds weight, and at the same 

 time very hollow. I remember a case in point 

 whilst hunting in the Omuramba-Omtaka. I was 

 returning home, having killed a large bull, when I 

 suddenly encountered two other bulls standing 



