638 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



have done mucli to illustrate the Natural History of an 

 immense and wholly unknown country. Of the two, Harris 

 has ten years the precedence in the field ; and to say the 

 least, there is a somewhat suspicious resemblance between 

 many of the incidents in Cummings' book and his on the 

 *' Sports of South Africa." This coincidence, however natural, 

 from the fact that much the same ground has been gone 

 over by both, is yet strong enough to show that Cummings 

 has taken Harris for his master and model. As a proper 

 introduction to these "Wild Scenes," I shall give from 

 Cummings a general sketch of the habits of the elephant. 



Before proceeding further with my narrative, it may here 

 be interesting to make a few remarks on the African elephant 

 and his habits. The elephant is widely diffused through the 

 vast forests, and- is met with in herds of various numbers. 

 The male is very much larger than the female, consequently 

 much more difficult to kill. He is provided with two enormous 

 tusks. These are long, tapering," and beautifully arched ; 

 their length averages from six to eight feet, and they weigh 

 from sixty to a hundred pounds each. In the vicinity of 

 the equator the elephants attain to a greater size than to 

 the southward ; and I am in the possession of a pair of tusks 

 of the African bull elephant, the larger of which measures 

 ten feet nine inches in length, and weighs one hundred and 

 seventy-three pounds. The females, unlike Asiatic elephants 

 in this respect, are likewise provided with tusks. The price 

 which the largest ivory fetches in the English market is from 

 £2S to <£32 per hundred and twelve pounds. Old bull 

 elephants are found singly or in pairs, or consorting together 

 in small herds, varying from six to twenty individuals. The 

 younger bulls remain for many years in the company of their 

 mothers, and these are met together in large herds of from 

 twenty to a hundred individuals. The food of the elephant 

 consists of the branches, leaves and roots of trees, and also of 

 a variety of bulbs, of the situation of which he is advised by 



