ELEPHANTS IN THEIR WILD STATE. 1 43 



ing old engineer the first maker of the track must have 

 been. 



Wild elephants generally go in herds of from fifteen 

 upwards ; the largest herd I ever saw was on the Annamul- 

 lies, it numbered at least sixty animals and was a wonderful 

 sight. The size of the wild elephant has been often greatly 

 exaggerated ; anything over nine feet is very large, one of 

 ten feet is a monster. Sanderson says "there is little doubt 

 that there is not an elephant ten feet at the shoulder in 

 India ;" the account of the exciting encounter with the large 

 tusker shot by Sir Victor Brooke, proves that at times they 

 do exceed ten feet but it is a most rare occurrence. 



Sanderson gives such an excellent and accurate de- 

 scription of the habits of this animal in its wild state that 

 I need not further dwell upon the subject and will confine 

 myself to a few examples of sport on the Neilgherries and 

 Annamullies. 



The first elephant I ever killed was on the 12th Sep- 

 tember, 1854, when at Bundipore. I started about 3.30 to 

 the hill nearly south of the bungalow, saw a peacock air- 

 ing himself and shamefully missed him. Just before this I 

 had heard a very loud report not far off, and as I was 

 loading, two native shikaries came up. I looked upon 

 them with no friendly eye, but to my astonishment they 

 told Francis, my shikarie, that there was an elephant 

 close by at which they had fired and wounded and that it 

 was still in the ravine ; in a very short time we arrived at 

 its edge and one of the men pointed down. It was a very 

 deep thickly wooded place and I could see nothing ; the next 

 instant the bushes moved and I heard a kind of grunt and 

 the great brown back of an elephant came in sight ; 



