286 NATURAL HISTORY. 



pursuers, who scatter and fly from his headlong charge until he gives up the pursuit ; he at length 

 turns to bay when again pressed by the hunters. It is the duty of one man in particular to ride up 

 close to the .head of the Elephant, and thus to absorb its attention upon himself. This insures a 

 desperate charge. The greatest coolness and dexterity are then required by the hunter, who, now 

 the hunted, must so adapt the speed of his Horse to the pace of the Elephant that the enraged beast 

 gains in the race, until it almost reaches the tail of the Horse. In this manner the race continues. 

 In the meantime, two hunters gallop up behind the Elephant, unseen by the animal, whose attention 

 is completely directed to the Horse almost within his grasp. With extreme agility, when close to the 

 heels of the Elephant, one of the hunters, while at full speed, springs to the ground with his drawn 

 sword, as his companion seizes the bridle, and with one dexterous two-handed blow he severs the back 

 sinew. He immediately jumps out of the way, and remounts his Horse ; but if the blow is successful, 

 the Elephant is hamstrung, and, as it cannot run rapidly on three legs, is easily killed." 



The Fans in the neighbourhood of the Gaboon settlements, according to Mr. Winwood Reade, 

 are in the habit of employing the same mode of capturing Elephants as the natives of India, namely, 

 by enticing them within an enclosure or fence of posts and rails, where they are afterwards killed 

 with cross-bows, spears, and trade-guns. 



Elephant shooting, although not unattended by danger, appears to be on the whole accom- 

 plished with considerable success, five or six Elephants having been killed occasionally in a very short 

 space of time by one man ; and many are the tales of hair-breadth escapes related to us by Gordon 

 Gumming, Tennent, Baker, and others. But it appears the forehead-shot, so much in favour in 

 shooting Indian Elephants, does not answer with the African species, the form of the head and the 

 position of the tusks preventing the bullet from reaching the brain. 



"The only successful forehead-shot," says Sir S. Baker, "that I made at an African Elephant 

 was shortly after my arrival in the Abyssinian territory, on the Settite River ; this was in thick, 

 thorny jungle, and an Elephant from the herd charged with such good intention that, had she not 

 been stopped, she must have caught one of the party. When within about five yards of the muzzle of 

 my rifle, I killed her dead by a forehead-shot with a hardened bullet, and we subsequently recovered 

 the bullet in the vertebras of the neck ! This extraordinaiy penetration led me to suppose that I 

 should always succeed as I had done in Ceylon, and I have frequently stood the charge of an 

 African Elephant until close upon me, determined to give the forehead-shot a fair trial, but I 

 have always failed, except in the instance now mentioned. It must be borne in mind that 

 the Elephant was a female, with a head far inferior in size and solidity to that of the male. 

 The temple-shot, and that behind the ear, are equally fatal in Africa as in Ceylon, provided the 

 hunter can approach within ten or twelve yards ; but altogether the hunting is far more difficult, 

 as the character of the country does not admit of an approach sufficiently close to guarantee a 

 successful shot. In the forests of Ceylon, an Elephant can be stalked to within a few paces, and the 

 shot is seldom fired at a greater distance than ten yards. Thus accuracy of aim is insured ; but in the 

 open ground of Africa an Elephant can seldom be approached within fifty yards, and should he charge 

 the hunter escape is most difficult. I never found African Elephants in good jungle, except once, 

 and on that occasion I shot five quite as quickly as we should kill them in Ceylon." 



Gordon Gumming gives us the following information as to how the natives cut up an Elephant 

 for food and other purposes. " The rough outer skin is first removed, in large sheets, from the side 

 which lies uppermost. Several coats of an under skin are then met with. This skin is of a tough 

 and pliant nature, and is used by the natives for making water-bags, in which they convey supplies of 

 water from the nearest ' vley,' or fountain (which is often ten miles distant), to the Elephants. They 

 remove this inner skin with caution, taking care not to cut it with the assegai ; and it is formed into 

 water-bags by gathering the corners and edges, and transfixing the whole on a pointed wand. The 

 flesh is then removed in enormous sheets from the ribs, when the hatchets come into play, with which 

 they chop through, and remove individually, each colossal rib. The bowels are thus laid bare ; and 

 in the removal of these the leading men take a lively interest and active part, for it is throughout and 

 around the intestines that the fat of the Elephant is mainly found. 



" There are few things which a Bechuana prizes so highly as fat of any description. They will 

 go an amazing distance for a small portion of it. They use it principally in cooking their sun-dried 



