ELEPHANT HUNTING. 559 



before the echo of the bullet could reach my ear, I plainly 

 saw that the elephant was mine. The dogs now came up and 

 barked around him, but finding himself incapacitated, the old 

 fellow seemed determined to take it easy, and, limping slowly 

 to a neighboring tree, he remained stationary, eyeing his 

 pursuers with a resigned and philosophic air. 



I resolved to devote a short time to the contemplation of 

 this noble elephant before I should lay him low ; accordingly, 

 Laving off-saddled the horses beneath a shady tree which was 

 to be my quarters for the night and ensuing day, I quickly 

 kindled a fire and put on the kettle, and in a very few minutes 

 my coffee was prepared. There I sat in my forest home, 

 coolly sipping my coffee, with one of the finest elephants in 

 Africa awaiting my pleasure beside a neighboring tree. 



It was, indeed, a striking scene ; and as I gazed upon the 

 stupendous veteran of the forest, I thought of the red deer 

 which I loved to follow in my native land, and felt that, 

 though the Fates had driven me to follow a more daring and 

 arduous avocation in a distant land, it was a good exchange 

 which I had made, for I was now a chief over boundless 

 forests, which yielded unspeakably more noble and exciting 

 sport. 



Having admired the elephant for a considerable time, I 

 resolved to make experiments for vulnerable points, and, 

 approaching very near, I fired several bullets at different 

 parts of his enormous skull. These did not seem to affect 

 him in the slightest; he only acknowledged the shots by a 

 " salaam-like" movement of his trunk, with the point of which 

 he gently touched the wound with a striking and peculiar 

 action. Surprised and shocked to find that I was only tor- 

 menting and prolonging the sufferings of the noble beast, which 

 bore his trials with such dignified composure, I resolved to 

 finish the proceeding with all possible dispatch ; accordingly, 

 I opened fire upon him from the left side, aiming behind the 

 shoulder ; but even there it was long before my bullets 



