BULLET AND SHOT 



may set up a current contrary to its prevailing 

 direction. 



Usually there is absolutely no good in attempting 

 to follow an elephant which has got right away 

 from the place with only head-shots. However 

 slowly he may have gone off, his pace will improve 

 as he proceeds, bleeding will soon cease, and he 

 will cover a very long distance before halting. I 

 have only once come up again with a wounded 

 elephant which had got away, and that was an 

 exceptional case, the animal being apparently ren- 

 dered unusually stupid by my first shot. He was 

 going off slowly, and we could hear him blowing. 

 Presently, I got up to him standing in open bamboo 

 cover, and gave him both barrels of my 8-bore rifle, 

 the second of which nearly caused him to subside ; 

 but, discovering us, he cocked his ears and faced 

 us, and would probably have charged, had I not 

 at once given him another shot from a spare gun 

 (8-bore), which sent him off. Though we followed 

 till we were obliged to return to camp which 

 we did not reach till 8.30 p.m., we saw him no 

 more, nor when we went out again to look for him 

 on the next day did we succeed in encountering 

 him. 



The best weapon for elephant shooting is, in my 

 opinion, a light 4-bore. Until my last trip in 

 pursuit of this game, I had never used one of the 

 latter upon these animals, but I now think that 

 there is nothing to compare with it for the purpose. 

 I formerly used, first a double 8-bore rifle, and then 

 that rifle in conjunction with a double 8-bore gun, 



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