CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 173 



The African elephant is said by those who 

 know both to be much fiercer and more savage 

 than the Indian animal, which is hardly to be 

 wondered at when we remember that the 

 moment an African elephant is seen outside of 

 a Government reserve it becomes a target for 

 all and sundry, native and European alike. 



It is a great traveller in search of food, and 

 its wanderings take it high above the plains 

 and far up the green slopes of Mount Kenia. 

 It is also a coarser feeder than the Indian 

 kind, using one of its tusks, generally the 

 right one, to prise up mimosa and other trees, 

 from which it then strips twigs, leaves and 

 bark. Its huge ears, at all times conspicuous, 

 assume a frightful appearance when it is 

 charging, for they then stand out at right 

 angles to the head like the wings of some 

 angry demon, and at such moments its trumpet- 

 ing is nothing less than deafening. Its powers 

 of eyesight and hearing are only rnoderately 

 developed, but it has a very keen sense of 

 smell and must be stalked very carefully up- 

 wind. If suddenly disturbed at close quarters, 

 it is apt to charge before a shot is fired, and on 

 such occasions the female is considered the 

 more dangerous of the two. 



In some parts of Africa, elephants with only 

 one tusk are not uncommon, and these are 

 invariably the worst-tempered in the herd, per- 



