178 ELEPHANTS. 



trying interval, averting my eyes, I remained perfectly 

 steady ; this was from force of habit, for, as a rule, it is the 

 best course to adopt, but in this case it was folly, seeing 

 that the front shot was overlooked, and that in all proba- 

 bility aim could have been taken and the shot fired before 

 he moved. Being satisfied with his inspection he recom- 

 menced feeding, and shortly after turned broadside on, 

 exposing the ear shot ; in the gloom of the forest the 

 ear-hole was indistinct, but I could wait no longer, so 

 aimed steadily, and fired. He first went a header into the 

 bamboos, and remained motionless for some seconds, 

 leaning against their thick stems ; then, recovering himself, 

 he rushed over an adjacent small tree, subsiding against a 

 larger one, which cracked with his enormous weight, as he 

 leaned his body against it, his legs inclined outwards, at an 

 angle to the ground. Although not more than twenty 

 yards distant, he was facing away, so to fire would have 

 been useless. This was a good opportunity to reload ; the 

 paper cartridges, however, had become so swollen from 

 damp that they would not enter the breech,* which was 

 rather awkward; he soon revived, and, cocking his ears, 

 began to try the wind with his trunk, and evidently 

 sniffed the " tainted gale," for he advanced, encountering 

 a tree on the way, through the side of which he pushed 

 one of his tusks. I now stepped into the open, to get a 

 clearer shot ; on he came, in a shuffling sort of way, 

 without elevating his trunk, but clearly intent on busi- 

 ness ; and when within ten yards I fired for the bump, and 

 down he went on his knees weak though the second rifle 

 was, it would have been welcome then. The tusker 

 soon recovered his legs, and, turning about, retired very 

 .groggily, cannoning against the trees that came in his 

 * Brass cases were not made in those days. 



