SIZE OP TilE TUSKS. 253 



under some large trees. I approached within thirty 

 paces, unobserved by them. One had his head 

 towards me, and I distinctly saw that he had a 

 large pair of tusks, I should think about sixty 

 pounds each. The other was broadside on, his head 

 partly concealed by the trees, but there was no mis- 

 taking the size of the two elephants, the latter being 

 much the larger of the two. I accordingly selected 

 him, and killed him ; but to my disgust, I found 

 his tusks absurdly small. I remember perfectly the 

 weight of these tusks, as I put them on the steel- 

 yards when they reached the waggon, and the two 

 weighed twenty-one pounds eleven and ten each. 

 I do not believe, as some hunters have asserted, 

 that, as a general rule, the smaller bulls have the 

 larger tusks. The largest-tusked elephants which I 

 have killed, have been, with one or two exceptions, 

 the largest elephants, and several shot in the Mat- 

 tabili country, by my brother and self, were gigantic 

 in their proportions." 



Somewhat corroborative of my friend's theory as 

 to the difficulty of judging the ago of the elephant 

 by the size of his tusks, I may mention that L re- 

 member once killing a bull, the tusks of which, not- 

 withstanding the stupendous si/e of the animal, 

 who measured twenty-six feet from foot to foot 

 across the shoulder, only weighed about one hun- 

 dred and thirty pounds. 



The tusks, it is to be observed, arc very firmly 

 embedded in the elephant's skull, of which, indeed, 

 they would seem to form a portion, for, though they 

 may break, they can never be extracted from it during 



