THE ELEPHANT 263 



Asiatic species, but the skull of the African is well-nigh 

 impenetrable. 



Mr. Burchell, in his Travels, relates an incident well 

 illustrating the danger of Elephant-hunting. Carel Krieger, 

 a fearless hunter, with his party, closely pursued an animal 

 which they had only wounded. The infuriated beast 

 turned round and charged down upon the person who 

 had inflicted the injury. Seizing him with its trunk, the 

 Elephant raised its victim on high, and dashed him 

 with terrific force to the ground. The maddened beast 

 then literally trampled the body to pieces, finally pounding 

 it until nothing remained but a few of the larger bones. 



There is no famous hunter of modern times, even when 

 armed with the most perfect specimen of the gunmaker's 

 art, who has not looked death squarely in the face when in 

 pursuit of the Elephant. Oswell, when chased by an in- 

 furiated beast, was jerked from his saddle by the thorny 

 plants through which he madly urged his horse. Falling 

 directly in the Elephant's path, the huge creature blundered 

 right over the fallen hunter, without so much as touching 

 him. 



Mr. F. C. Selous once experienced a few moments each 

 of which was punctuated with terrible thrills. The charg- 

 ing Elephant drove its tusk into the horse's haunch, over- 

 turning steed and rider. The next moment the hunter 

 was underneath the belly of the Elephant, which probably 

 thought it had destroyed its enemy. In the moment of 

 brief respite Selous scrambled out between the animal's 

 hind legs, secured his rifle, and with a deadly shot at close 

 quarters brought the Elephant down where it stood. Upon 

 another occasion a Zulu who accompanied Selous met 

 with a terrible fate. When racing in front of a maddened 

 animal the man fell. Before he could rise the Elephant 

 was upon him, placing its foot on the prostrate figure, 

 which with its trunk it literally tore into three pieces. 



Mr. A. H. Neumann was not so fortunate as Selous. 

 At a critical juncture, when he was charged by a vicious 

 wounded Elephant, his rifle refused to act. In a moment 

 he was thrown down. He was first stabbed through the 

 biceps of his right arm, and a second thrust of the tusks 



