BULLET AND SHOT 



of it, floors the creature, who may lie stunned for a 

 short while, or may at once get up again. 



The sportsman must be on the look-out for this, 

 and never trust to an elephant being defunct until 

 the fact is beyond all question. Generally speaking, 

 an animal which has been only stunned and floored 

 (not brained) falls quickly and with a loud crash, 

 while one which has been shot dead sinks down 

 slowly and quietly, making very little noise, unless 

 the carcass should crush dry branches or bamboos 

 in its fall. 



As soon as an elephant has fallen to the shot, the 

 sportsman should run in close ; and if he has any 

 doubts regarding the animal's extinction, should 

 continue firing into his head at an angle calculated 

 to reach the desired spot. The surest sign within 

 my knowledge that a male elephant has been 

 brained, is that, in a very short time after the fatal 

 bullet has been fired, an organ which is usually 

 hidden is extruded, and a general evacuation 

 ensues. Previous to this, I counsel no faith in 

 the creature's demise. 



If the elephant be not brained, he will soon 

 begin to struggle, and attempt to rise. Happy,, 

 then, is the sportsman who is accompanied by a 

 gun-bearer upon whom he can rely to stand by 

 him with his second rifle or gun ; for it is often 

 exceedingly difficult to finish off an elephant which 

 is floundering about and trying to get up! In the 

 last trip which I made after these animals in a 

 zemindary in the Madura district (Southern India) 

 it took a learned (and sporting) judge and myself 



214 



