158 THE GREAT ELEPHANT OF HASSANOOR. 



seen anything like it. She was a very large female ; I made 

 her with the measuring tape eight feet seven inches. 



In 1863, when at Hassanoor with the late Sir Victor 

 Brooke, he shot the largest elephant ever killed in Southern 

 India. We had started early on the morning of the 30th of 

 July, the native shikaries being very positive about elephants 

 being in the neighbourhood. We had not gone far before 

 fresh marks and droppings dispelled all doubts, and shortly 

 afterwards we came plump on a tusker standing amongst some 

 low trees. We crept up to within twelve yards of him, but just 

 as B. fired, the elephant had raised his head and was apparently 

 picking his teeth with his trunk ; this threw the angle out and 

 the ball went in front of the brain, or rather past it. He 

 wheeled round at the shot, and I caught him an awful smite 

 on the other ear with the Lancaster, which nearly brought him 

 down, but he recovered himself and went off at a great rate. 

 B. took up the running and was very close to him at one time, 

 but he got away ; he was not a very large animal, but his 

 ivories were worth bagging. We returned to the bungalow to 

 breakfast, B. a good deal cut up at the loss of the tusker. 

 Soon after breakfast a number of elephants were reported 

 about three miles off in the other valley through which the 

 road passes, so away we went after them ; heard them in the 

 valley below us, and presently saw some of them on the 

 opposite side ; just then some men minding cattle hearing one 

 of the elephants trumpeting began shouting " Anee, Anee ! " 

 (Elephants, Elephants) which put the whole herd in motion. 

 They all passed along a rather open space of the hill about 

 a quarter of a mile distant. I never saw such a sight — there 

 were at least sixty elephants, the leader being a splendid old 

 bull ; on they went, sometimes in twos and threes, sometimes 



