298 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



to them. So we took them on, and worked steadily up a 

 steep ridge. At about mid-day, after being out since day- 

 break, my attention was attracted to a herd of elephants 

 trumpeting in the valley to my left, somewhere in D's 

 neighbourhood ; not wishing to relinquish the bison, how- 

 ever, or to interfere with D's sport, we held on. We were then 

 at an elevation of some 2500 feet. Whilst moving along 

 in this manner I heard a faint noise on ahead, and suddenly 

 to my surprise a magnificent tusker elephant stalked 

 majestically into view down the same ridge we were on. 

 It was amusing to see how the animal kept the flies from his 

 body by whisking from side to side a small branch covered 

 with leaves which he had broken from a tree, and which he 

 used as dexterously as a lady does her fan. This elephant 

 was a much larger animal than my first, and his tusks 

 protruded from his mouth quite three feet. The wind was 

 fortunately in our favour, or else the animal would soon 

 have scented us and made off. I waited till he had ap- 

 proached broadside on to within about twenty paces, and 

 fired for the temple shot between the eye and ear. The 

 8-bore was the only weapon with the exception of the 

 double smooth-bore I had in my possession at that time, a 

 single "303 and double 12-bore rifle not having been purchased 

 till a year later, and I had unfortunately left the smooth-bore 

 in camp. As I was on lower ground than the elephant when 

 I fired, I immediately retreated out of the way to one side, 

 taking up my stand behind the trunk of a large buttress tree, 

 which had huge parapet-like projections on either side at 

 the base. The smoke after the shot obscured everything for 

 a few seconds, and the next thing I saw was the elephant 

 rolling down the side of the hill exactly to the spot I had 

 just vacated, where it was brought up by a slight depression 

 in the ground. It was a sight never to be forgotten to see 

 that elephant struggling on its back, with all its four legs in 

 the air, vainly trying to recover its equilibrium, having only 

 been temporarily stunned by my shot, which had passed into 

 the right side of the head, missing the brain by a very little. 



An elephant invariably recovers from a head shot wound, 

 when the brain is not touched, as there are no large arteries, 



