230 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



If a herd is attacked it stampedes, and if hard pressed the 

 females with calves will charge. 



When a herd stampedes in cover, as it is impossible to tell 

 the direction it will take, the best course the sportsman can 

 adopt is to stand still against a tree or a bamboo clump, and 

 not attempt to run. A tree eight inches in diameter is said to 

 be about the largest that an elephant can overthrow. If cir- 

 cumstances ever occur to make a run unavoidable, the flight 

 should always be down hill and the steepest places at hand 

 chosen, as elephants fear to trust themselves on a rapid descent 

 at any great pace ; up hill or on the level a man would be 

 speedily overtaken on rough ground. 



When a herd makes off it goes at a great pace for a short 

 distance and then settles into a fast walk, which is often kept 

 up for ten or fifteen miles if there is a wounded elephant 

 and no young calves with it. The sportsman should pursue at 

 once, as an ordinary runner can generally keep near for two 

 or three hundred yards. 



When elephants are close at hand, standing in indecision, 

 no one should shout to turn them, as a charge from one or more 

 of them is almost sure to be the result. A friend of the 

 writer's told him that once when stalking an elephant he could 

 not get a fair shot at his head, so he whistled to make him turn ; 

 the elephant simply swung round and charged, but a shot in 

 the head, though it did not floor, turned him. 



The impression of the tusks in soft soil gives a good idea 

 of their size. A groove that will admit five fingers means that 

 the tusks will probably weigh over 60 Ibs. the pair. Twice 

 round the forefoot gives the height of the elephant at the 

 shoulder. 



In shooting single elephants, after the first rush of a hundred 

 yards or so all noise often ceases, as the elephant breaks into a 

 walk, and a novice would suppose that he had stopped when 

 in reality he is rapidly retreating. 



In following wounded elephants it is a good plan to send 

 a couple of trackers ahead while the sportsman and his gun- 



