THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT 



trained elephants, like gigantic athletes, perform all 

 kinds of tricks from sliding down an inclined plane to 

 standing on their heads. 



The elephant, when he attacks his enemy, rushes 

 forward with great speed, uttering piercing, trumpet- 

 like sounds, his big ears standing out from his head. 

 I have been told by reliable natives that elephants, on 

 various occasions, turned on the hunters, threw them 

 to the ground, and pierced them with their tusks. In 

 one instance an old male elephant threw down a hunt- 

 er, crushed his head with his forefoot, plunged his tusk 

 into him, and slit him open as with a knife. The un- 

 timely and tragic death of the man whose body was 

 found by Prince Ruspoli while hunting in Somaliland, 

 was doubtless brought about in a similar manner. As 

 a rule the elephant charges in a straight line. There- 

 fore, it is safest to dodge to the right or left in order to 

 escape the pursuing animal. The sense of smell is ex- 

 tremely acute in the elephant, as is also that of hearing, 

 while the eyes are small and weak. The elephant, in 

 most cases, scents his enemy before he hears or sees 

 him. 



If one has had the opportunity of observing elephants 

 for weeks, then one can understand how a small num- 

 ber, at least, of the originally large herds have escaped 

 their pursuers. I often had occasion to observe, from 

 an elevated position, groups of these animals gathered 

 in a valley below me. They raised their trunks high 



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