THE ELEPHANT. 169 



from the back of my elephant. I had an American 

 rifle, the power of which I was very desirous of 

 proving, and with this gun I fired at the animal's 

 temples, at a distance of forty paces. At that distance 

 I could easily hit the bottom of a wine-glass, and 

 I was therefore perfectly certain that I had struck 

 the place I aimed at ; but its calibre was not 

 sufficient, and the patriarch scampered off, followed 

 by four balls from my battery, which I foolishly fired 

 off, in the vainhope of stopping him. 



" We then recommenced following the track, 

 assisted here and there by drops of blood. After a 

 pursuit of five miles we discovered that we had 

 changed the route, having lost the wounded elephant 

 and taken that of an elephant which had wandered 

 from the path taken by the troop. "We were, in fact, 

 following the fresh footprints of a solitary males 

 whose meditations we troubled at about ten milea 

 from the place where our first shot had been fired- 

 We were now in the forest of Hora walla, where one 

 is always sure to find elephants at the time when 

 the rice is ripening. 



" This time I used my heavy carabine, firing from 

 the back of my elephant at about fifteen paces. My 

 aim was not perfectly certain ; the old male stumbled 

 and fell on his knees, but as he roared furiously, it 



