160 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



serving them in their natural habitat, I feel that my 

 opinion will carry some weight with those competent 

 to judge. I should like to state that I express such 

 opinions, not out of a wanton love of contradiction, 

 but simply with a desire to tell the truth, the whole 

 truth, and nothing but the truth, and thereby remove 

 flagrantly erroneous conceptions from the minds of 

 those interested in such matters. 



Some time ago, I read in a book on big game 

 hunting that, in our sense of the word, an elephant 

 never rests and that, except in water, he cannot lie 

 down on his side, but stands on three legs, swinging 

 the fourth. I cannot imagine on what basis the 

 writer makes such a statement. My considerable 

 experience of elephants has taught me the contrary. 

 On numerous occasions, I have come across elephants 

 lying down, and one of the illustrations in this book 

 depicts an elephant I shot while he was lying 

 sleeping. No doubt the shooting of a sleeping 

 elephant may seem unsportsmanlike to the reader, 

 and I can assure him that my feelings in the matter 

 do not differ from his, but it must be remembered 

 that I was simply in quest of ivory as a means 

 of obtaining a livelihood, and that, under such 

 circumstances, scruples have to be brushed aside. 

 I hardly think that any man on a similar occasion 

 would politely wake the elephant before shooting 

 him, and my action in the case is absolutely on 



