CHAPTER V 



ELEPHANTS 



Shoot my largest tusker Death of a huge solitary "muckna" or tuskless 

 male Shoot solitary "muckna," noted for destroying rice crops and 

 plantain plantations Fire at large tusker in herd of five tuskers ; am 

 charged by remaining four ; succeed in bagging two Shoot my last 

 tusker on New Year's Day 1897, after a long chase. 



SOME of my readers, I dare say, think that sportsmen are 

 unnecessarily cruel and callous in their methods of killing 

 game, and no doubt wonder how one can find any pleasure 

 and excitement in doing to death such a harmless beast as 

 a gaur, or an animal so intelligent and useful as the elephant. 

 Granted, but we have all still, more or less, implanted in our 

 breasts a taint of the savage instinct of our forefathers to 

 take life, and there is also a natural craving for some form 

 of excitement amongst the majority of people, which has in 

 some way or other to be satisfied, and what better form of 

 excitement or what more manly and healthful sport could 

 one desire, than the tracking up and stalking of these wary 

 denizens of the jungle ? We sportsman have, however, whilst 

 standing over an animal newly shot, a momentary feeling of 

 regret or remorse, call it which you will, but this feeling is 

 only momentary and is more than counterbalanced by the 

 satisfaction of having obtained another noble trophy. 



The largest tusker elephant which it was ever my good 

 fortune to shoot fell to my 8-bore one lovely evening in 

 November 1895. It was then about the beginning of the 

 cold weather, and the evenings and early mornings were quite 

 chilly. 



Whilst travelling through the subdivision in the neighbour- 



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