APPENDIX. 255 



on, and it is their intention to get away. However, should the hunter be in their way, he will 

 stand a good chance of being trampled upon, unless he is able to divert their course by firing 

 at close quarters, or, if the country is open enough, he runs to a flank. A bond fide charge 

 directed at the scent of the hunter or at the sound of his rifle or footfall, such as the charge made 

 by an old bull waiting in his tracks, or a cow when she turns and leaves the herd, is seldom made 

 for a greater distance than fifty yards or so. If the animal misses its object after galloping this 

 distance, it generally stops and listens again or tries to get a fresh scent by raising its trunk 

 above its head. The reason for this is that the animal does not, as a rule, charge unless it believes 

 its objective to be close at hand. If the animal sees its objective, or hears it again, it may then 

 continue the pursuit. 



The elephant's main object is to get away from the molestation of the hunter. If 

 the hunter continues to follow it after it has tried to get away, and it still finds itself 

 closely pursued, it may charge or may wait quietly until the hunter comes near enough for 

 a charge. 



Sometimes elephants charge the first time they scent or hear the hunter. It is probable 

 then that they have recently been wounded or molested. It is, indeed, seldom that any of the 

 dangerous game animals make a charge of any great distance. Wounded buffalo usually wait 

 for the hunter in thick bush, and, if he follows them, charge from close quarters, or else go off 

 again. Lions and leopards, as a rule, only turn on the hunter when they are wounded and he 

 has come close to them in thick country. Occasionally animals charge from longer distances, 

 but as a rule it is only at close quarters that they assume the offensive. If it was never necessary 

 to approach nearer to dangerous game than one hundred yards the casualties in hunting them 

 would be infinitesimal. 



An elephant rising after falling experiences some difficulty in getting up, and has to assist 

 himself by his tusks and his trunk. 



In a mud bath, where an elephant has rolled, the marks of his tusk may often be seen on the 

 edge where he assisted himself to rise. 



When an elephant falls, the hunter should have no fear of running in to finish him whilst on 

 the ground, provided the country is not so thick and tangled as to make it difficult to move. 

 If the elephant commences to rise again there is just time to reach a safe position downwind and 

 out of his range of sight before he has completed the process. It is, of course, understood that 

 in such approaching the hunter keeps out of range of the elephant's trunk. 



Difficulty of Seeing Tusks. — In Uganda and the usual long-grass countries in which elephants 

 are found, it is a matter of great difficulty to see an animal's tusks. An elephant keeps his head 

 low, and the tusks are completely concealed by the grass. It is only, as a rule, when he tosses 

 his head up or reaches up for a branch that a glimpse may be had of them. As the sportsman 

 naturally does not wish to bag a small pair, it sometimes becomes necessary for him to wait at 

 close quarters for hours, until he has made certain. During this time, as likely as not, the wind 

 changes or the animal moves off, and the opportunity is lost. Moreover, it is exceedingly 

 difficult to judge the dimensions of the tusks of an elephant when no other animal is in sight, as 

 the hunter has often to do when in long grass. A small elephant with comparatively big tusks 

 may easily be mistaken for a big-tusker ; similarly a female, when the tusks are not visible, may 

 easily be mistaken for a male. If the spoor has been observed, the hunter can at least tell that 

 it is not a female, and, by the size of the spoor, he may make a tolerably good guess as to whether 

 the tusks are worth having. 



