182 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



heavy mud. Next morning 1 , my porters, sixty 

 in number, accompanied by practically all the 

 villagers, marched the ten or eleven miles and 

 proceeded to cut up the elephants. I did not 

 accompany them on this occasion, knowing 

 from experience what a disgusting spectacle 

 it would be, and confident also that my head- 

 man would see the tusks cut out without 

 injury. They were all away till the following 

 morning, when they straggled back to camp 

 with the tusks and meat. The tusks were as 

 follows : 



Length. Girth. Weight. 



Big Elephant Right tusk . 5 ft. 8 in. i6 in. 52 Ibs. 



Left ,, . 4 ft. 8 in. i6 in. 49 Ibs. 



Small ,, Right ,, . 5 ft. i in. 15^ in. 36 Ibs. 



Left ,, . 5 ft. 6 in. 15^ in. 37 Ibs. 



" It must be confessed that the tusks of the 

 big- elephant were disappointing, as the animal 

 was an uncommonly big one, and, judging 

 from the appearance of his skin, of great age. 

 They had evidently been broken off at some 

 period, and the left one, more particularly, was 

 very short. On cutting him up, the men 

 found two native bullets of hammered iron in 

 him." 



The concluding remark in Major Whitla's 

 interesting story bears out what was said on an 

 earlier page. Few elephants attain any great 

 age without having been shot at and wounded, 

 and these encounters doubtless have their 

 effect on the victim's temper. 



