ELEPHANT HUNTING. 539 



his exquisite sense of smell. To obtain these he turns up 

 the ground with his tusks, and whole acres may be seen thus 

 plowed up. Elephants consume an immense quantity of 

 food, and pass the greater part of the day and night in 

 feeding. Like the whale in the ocean, the elephant on land 

 is acquainted with, and roams over, wide and extensive 

 tracts. He is extemely particular in always frequenting 

 the freshest and most verdant districts of the forest; and 

 when one district is parched and barren, he will forsake it 

 for years, and wander to great distances in quest of better 

 pasture. 



The elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, 

 and a child can put a hundred of them to flight by passing 

 at a quarter of a mile to windward ; and when thus disturbed, 

 they go a long way before they halt. It is surprising how 

 soon these sagacious animals are aware of the presence of a 

 hunter in their domains. When one troop has been attacked, 

 all the other elephants frequenting the district are aware of 

 the fact within two or three days, when they all forsake it, and 

 migrate to distant parts, leaving the hunter no alternative 

 but to inspan his wagons and remove to fresh ground. This 

 constitutes one of the greatest difficulties which a skillful 

 elephant-hunter encounters. Even in the most remote parts, 

 which may be reckoned the head-quarters of the elephant, it is 

 only occasionally, and with inconceivable toil and hardship, that 

 the eye of the hunter is cheered by the sight of one. Owing to 

 habits peculiar to himself, the elephant is more inaccessible, 

 and much more rarely seen, than any other game quadruped, 

 excepting certain rare antelopes. They choose for their 

 resort the most lonely and secluded depths of the forest, 

 generally at a very great distance from the rivers and 

 fountains at which they drink. In dry and warm weather 

 they visit these waters nightly, but in cool and cloudy weather 

 they drink only once every third or fourth clay. About 

 sundown the elephant leaves his distant mid-day haunt, and 



