I 62 MY LAST ELEPHANT. 



India, was eighty-five pounds, and that so long ago as 1870 

 I confirmed this statement in The Field. If I did so, I was 

 myself in error. When my friend, Mr. Sanderson, published 

 his most interesting work entitled ' Thirteen Years amongst 

 the Wild Beasts in India,' he requested me to have the tusks 

 of the elephant weighed and measured carefully, and at page 

 63 all the dimensions will be found accurately recorded. It 

 will be seen that the perfect tusk weighs ninety pounds, and 

 the broken one forty-nine pounds. The perfect tusk is exactly 

 eight feet in length. Unluckily I cannot remember exactly 

 what the tusks weighed shortly after the animal was killed, 

 but I remember being disappointed at finding they had lost 

 considerably when I weighed them for Mr. Sanderson, i.e., 

 fourteen years afterwards. 



"Victor Brooke." 

 On this same trip I killed my last elephant. On 

 August 1 st, we started up the valley to look for elephants. 

 When three parts up we saw some on the opposite 

 side ; it took us some time to get round, and when we 

 did get to the spot they had vanished. After hunting about 

 amidst numerous tracks we at last heard them ; creeping up 

 to a tree about thirty yards from them, I saw they were all 

 females. I would not fire for fear of disturbing a tusker, 

 so we watched them for some time, and the way in which 

 they flogged the flies off with twigs was a caution to small 

 boys ; at last one of them winded us and they all moved 

 off. Soon afterwards we came on them again, hidden away 

 in some bamboos ; we got up close to three females. I 

 moved a little forwards to get the shot ; the instant I did so an 

 old lady with a calf at her heels caught sight of me and 

 wheeled round. I had my rifle loaded with a quicksilver 



