elephant is seen alone, and this is probably due 

 to certain ivorine hints given him by the master, 

 when the youngster has shown himself somewhat 

 inclined for flirtation with some member of the 

 sultan's harem. Solitary elephants, or male ele- 

 phants when temporarily leading a single life, 

 often become much bolder and more aggressive 

 than are others. They are very apt to trespass 

 into crops at night, in which case the damage 

 done by them is enormous ; while they find the 

 living so much to their taste, that, if driven off, 

 they speedily return for another succulent feed. 



The ryots, watching their crops from platforms 

 erected in trees, or upon uprights in the fields, 

 are apt to fire at them with whatever fancy may 

 suggest as a telling pattern of projectile (e.g., I 

 have read of a screw-nut in one case, and a por- 

 tion of a military ramrod in another, having been 

 found in the heads of rogue elephants subsequently 

 slain with suitable weapons by the European 

 sportsman). The wounds thus inflicted by the 

 native seldom do much real, permanent bodily 

 harm to the animal, but they are calculated to 

 seriously affect his temper ; and to them is probably 

 due the fact that a solitary elephant, who formerly 

 did no more harm than destroying and devouring 

 crops, sometimes develops into that most dan- 

 gerous brute, a " rogue," who, regarding man as his 

 implacable enemy, attacks him on sight, and, if 

 he can do so, ruthlessly kills him. 



Only in the case of a " rogue " can the sportsman 

 ordinarily hope for permission to shoot an elephant 



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