3 i4 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



him to the ground after a preliminary lurch or two, where he 

 lay uttering a low, deep, rumbling sound, resembling distant 

 thunder, while life ebbed away. I rushed up, having in the 

 meantime reloaded, thinking he might get up again, but saw 

 from the way the blood gushed out that the heart had been 

 pierced. He was a magnificent beast, with massive tusks. 

 The space between the tips of his tusks measured, as he lay, 

 4j feet across ; the following were the other measurements 

 taken after the tusks were extracted : 



Weight of right tusk, 55 Ibs. 



Weight of left tusk, 45 Ibs. 



Length of right tusk, 5 feet 5j inches. 



Length of left tusk, 5 feet I \ inches. 



Circumference right tusk, outside gum at thickest portion, 

 17 inches. 



Circumference left tusk, at thickest portion, 16 inches. 



Circumference of fore-feet, 5 feet ij inches. 



For an Asiatic elephant these were a very fair pair of tusks, 

 and much beyond the average size shot by sportsmen, and at 

 the time I was proud to think that I had succeeded in beating 

 the largest pair bagged by Sanderson, the well-known author 

 of Thirteen Years amongst the Wild Beasts of India, now, alas, 

 no more. I do not think I exaggerate when I say that 

 elephants with larger and heavier tusks have been shot in 

 Burma than in India. The following are the measurements 

 of a very large pair of tusks, the record for India, I believe, 

 till last year, when the honour fell to Burma : 



RIGHT TUSK 

 feet inches 



Total length, outer curve . . . .8 o 

 Greatest circumference . . . _. ... i 4-9 

 Weight ..-.". . . . . 90 Ibs. 



LEFT TUSK 

 feet inches 



Total length, outer curve . . . . 3 3 

 Greatest circumference . : . I 8 



Weight . . . . . . - . . 49 Ibs. 



Total 139 Ibs. 



