002 THE ELEPHANT. 



evinced no visible distress. After this I fired three 

 shots at the same part, with the Dutch six-pounder. 

 Large tears now trickled from his eyes, which he 

 slowly shut and opened; his colossal frame shivered 

 convulsively, and, falling on his side, he expired. 

 The tusks of this elephant were beautifully arched, 

 and the heaviest I have yet met with, averaging 

 ninety pounds a-piece. 



" In case any fair reader may misinterpret my 

 motive for making experiments to find out the 

 most vulnurable point," Gordon Gumming goes on 

 to say, " I beg them to remark that my object was 

 not to torture the animal, but to put an end to its 

 life and pain in the quickest manner possible. I 

 had often lamented having to inflict so many 

 wounds on these noble animals before they fell." 



So much for the facility with which the elephant 

 maybe "overhauled" arid "extinguished" by the 

 well-mounted sportsman, where the country is 

 tolerably open. Not so, however, if the animal 

 holds to jungly ground, more especially if strewn 

 with broken and uprooted trees (the handiwork of 

 the elephant), as in such situations the difficulty 

 of killing him is very greatly increased. 



The hunter himself, moreover, is then exposed 

 to great peril, as, in the event of the beasts 

 charging, he is often puzzled to secure his re- 

 treat. On these occasions it is useless attempt- 

 ing to pick one's path, and there is consequently 

 great risk of a man's being swept from off the saddle 

 by the " Wochten-ligte" or wait-a-bit thorns,* 



* On one of my journeys I counted no fewer than seven distinct 



