ELEPHANT 



191 



brush are a great assistance, and I do not think any man 

 can come up close to these monsters, without wishing that 

 somewhere, near at hand, might stand a friendly tree. 

 Under all circumstances their sight is so poor that they do 

 not seem able to pick a man out at forty yards. In deep 

 shade he can stand still and remain undetected often at 

 twenty. But let them once catch your wind, and they 

 are off at a pace that baffles the best footman or on you, 

 in a charge that may be difficult or impossible to turn aside 

 or avoid. A close shot from a good rifle in the head or chest 

 will often make the animal receiving it swerve sufficiently 

 aside to save the hunter, but if the herd move down in line, 

 as they often do in the open, or if you let yourself get 

 between two herds, your chances are not good. A friend of 

 mine, a gallant fellow and a good shot, saved his life once 

 when so charged by a herd of twenty in the open: he dropped 

 his rifle, and waving his hat in the air, danced and shouted 

 with all his might. "But never again/' said he, "will I 

 tackle an elephant herd in the open." Another good 

 sportsman I know well, followed too closely a herd into 

 very thick thorn scrub. The wind was puffy, which made 

 his doing so exceedingly dangerous. One of the cows 

 got scent of him, and trumpeting loudly, charged. She 

 was followed in a rush by all the rest. He fired into the 

 onrushing mass of them, but it was no use. Tied by the 

 thorns he could not run, even if running had been any good. 

 Nothing remained for him but one terrible chance. He 

 threw himself down, and the ponderous charge trampled 

 over him. His coat was torn from his back by the foot of 

 an elephant, but miraculously he somehow escaped with- 

 out a scratch. He, too, says he has had enough of elephant 

 shooting. 



In the days when ivory hunting was permitted, two 

 resolute men could sometimes kill a considerable part of a 

 herd. Mr. Newman succeeded once in driving over sixty 



