THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 240 



one end at the ear-hole and the other in the line 

 of the eye ; his second shot, if taken at a selected 

 seeond animal, or made in defence, should prefer- 

 ably be at the elephant's body. The sight of an 

 elephant advancing with ears spread out to 15 feet 

 across, and the pandemonium of sound caused by 

 great rushing bodies and breaking trees, is so 

 unnerving to the inexperienced, that the difficult 

 brain shot, practically impossible except from the 

 side, would probably be missed, and one fired at 

 the shoulder, the root of the spine, or the joint of a 

 limb, be easier and quite effective. 



No female elephants, or males with tusks less 

 than 12 lb., may be shot in Angola. These 

 limits, which are too low as regards the male, 

 obtain, however, in all Portuguese, Belgian, and 

 French possessions. Big elephant tusks are rarely 

 obtained in Angola, the largest I heard of weighing 

 170 lb. the pair. As a general rule, a big elephant 

 carries good tusks, and the size of the spoor (the 

 circumference of which is a little less than half 

 the elephant's height of 10 to 11 feet at the 

 shoulder) is a useful guide if an elephant's track 

 should be followed. A spoor which measures 

 over 19 inches in diameter would be considered as 

 big, and anything below 15 inches usually not 

 worth following. 



The HIPPOPOTAMUS (Hippopotamus amphibius) 

 (Ongeve in Umbundu and Quillenge, Nguvu in 

 Cokue and Luimbe), at one time very numerous 

 throughout Angola, is still widely distributed, 

 though disappearing even more rapidly than the 

 other OYUTIC, owin to its size and defencclessness, 



