282 After Big Game in Central Africa 



I begin with the king of beasts, the one which study, 

 experience, and common sense, whatever La Fontaine and 

 even some naturalists may say to the contrary, points out 

 as the true monarch, namely, the elephant. 1 



It is very difficult to fix the age which an elephant can 

 reach. It does not live more than 120 years in India ; but 

 in that country its life is shortened, it is thought, by 

 captivity. We may presume, therefore, that 150 years 

 constitutes extreme old age in the case of an African 

 elephant. External evidences of advanced years are also 

 difficult to determine. I have noticed that old elephants 

 have very deep hollows at the temples, and that the jaw is 

 prominent, in short, that the head is bony, as if the skin 

 were simply stretched on the skull. The rest of the body, 

 also, is thinner and more angular. Their size has, of course, 

 reached its maximum. 



I have written down in my notebook the sizes of almost 

 all the elephants killed by me ; and the comparative table 

 which concludes this work gives the measurements of 

 twenty of them for the information of my readers. The 

 average which I have worked out is about 10 feet "7 inches 

 for adult males with tusks weighing 44 pounds and above, 

 and 9 feet 8 inches for females. I have killed females 

 without tusks and a male much bigger than this ; but that, 

 I believe, is exceptional, except in some regions, still little 

 frequented, where elephants can reach their full growth 

 undisturbed. 



The circumference of the fore-foot of the Indian elephant 

 is almost exactly, it is said, half the height of the withers. 



1 In Mas Grandes CTwmes (pp. 202, 291, 293, and 29G) will be found 

 a few words on the habits of this animaL I must correct two state- 

 ments which experience has shown me to be inaccurate. The elephant 

 does not always fall down when wounded to the heart. It bleeds from its 

 trunk, shows signs of great prostration ; sometimes it remains on the 

 spot and only falls down afterwards, but it can still go a hundred yards 

 more. Seriously wounded in the lungs, it does not proceed more than 

 300 or 400 yards. 



