160 THE STORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 



of course immediately rushes off, and the weight of the spear, aided by blows 

 from boughs, soon so enlarges the wound, that the animal quickly sinks to 

 the ground, exhausted from loss of blood. In other districts, as in parts of 

 Equatoria, the weighted spear is suspended from a horizontal bar fixed be- 

 tween two tiers of poles. The spear or knife is kept in position by a cord, 

 which is held down by a stake that is directed horizontally toward the middle 

 of the trap; and by another which, at a convenient angle, is interposed be- 

 tween this and the end. The animal, striking with his feet, loosens the con- 

 trivance, which then falls violently ; the knife wounds the animal with singular 

 exactness in the spot where the brain unites with the nape of the neck. The 

 blow falls like a thunder-clap; and if the trap is well made, the elephant strug- 

 gles and dies. 



The European sportsman kills the African elephant either by lying in 

 wait at one of its drinking-places, or by attacking it in the open, either on 

 foot or on horseback. At the present day, however, most or all of the ele- 

 phants remaining in South-Eastern Africa are restricted to districts infested 

 by the tsetsi fly, where horses cannot exist, and the pursuit must conse- 

 quently be undertaken on foot. Owing to the conformation of its skull, the 

 front-shot, so frequently emloyed in the case of the Indian elephant, is inef- 

 fectual with the African species, and there are but two spots where a bullet 

 may be expected to prove fatal; one of these being in the head behind the 

 eye, and the other in the shoulder immediately behind the flap of the ear. 



The old bulls are frequently solitary for a time, but generally each belongs 

 to a particular herd, which it visits occasionally. Solitary male elephants 

 are known as "rogues," and are generally characterized by their fierce and 

 quarrelsome disposition. Elephants that are permanently solitary are, how- 

 ever, comparatively rare, the majority of the so-called rogues really belong- 

 ing to herds. These leave their companions, as a rule, merely for a time, in 

 order to visit the cultivated lands, where the less venturesome females hesi- 

 tate to follow, and where they inflict enormous damage on the growing 

 crops. 



In the kingdom of Siam there are occasionally to be found white ele- 

 phants, but these are very scarce, and are regarded with much veneration. 

 This is owing to the belief of the Siamese in the doctrine that the souls of 

 men, after their death, pass into the body of some white animal. They 

 imagine that the body of so rare an animal as a white elephant must of neces- 

 sity be inhabited by the spirit of some king or other mighty personage. They 

 say, that for all his majesty the King of Siam knows to the contrary, the 



