ELEPHANTS. 183 



Hamilton, many years ago, at the southern extremity of 

 the Billiga Eungam Hills, near Hassanoor. I remember 

 hearing the story at Bangalore not very long after the 

 occurrence. The tusker was with a herd, and both 

 sportsmen fired at and wounded him very severely, but he 

 recovered himself and went off for many miles. General 

 Hamilton who was an experienced shikari was of 

 opinion that this stern chase was a useless one ; but, in 

 deference to Sir Victor's entreaties, he accompanied him 

 in the pursuit, and at length they sighted the tusker 

 standing in a nullah, where Brooke knocked him over with 

 a shot in the ear, eventually giving him another shot in 

 the head as a coup de (/race. 



He was reported to have been eleven feet in height, 

 and his best tusk measured about eight feet, the other was 

 diseased, and was not a good specimen. It was a great 

 piece of luck to get this splendid animal after the failure of 

 the preliminary attack such cases being very rare with 

 elephants. He was probably a very old beast with a 

 hardened skull, which may have stopped some of the 

 bullets which would have been fatal to a younger 

 animal. This tale proves the value of perseverance when 

 shikaring in no class of sport is this more necessary, than 

 when in pursuit of wild elephants. 



