174 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



haps because they smart under the handicap 

 imposed on them by the want of a second tusk, 

 or possibly from actual pangs of toothache. 



Mention has been made of the fact that, in 

 the ordinary way, elephant - shooting is no 

 longer permitted in India, and even in Africa 

 the Powers, waking, as is their habit, a little 

 late to their responsibilities, are at last framing 

 regulations to save the remnant of these splen- 

 did animals. In some districts, however, the 

 big game hunter may, after taking the pre- 

 scribed licence, still enjoy the supreme excite- 

 ment of an encounter with the greatest animal 

 on earth, running risks that not even the most 

 perfect rifles can ever quite eliminate, and 

 Major V. R. Whitla sends me the following 

 account of a " right and left " at these animals in 

 North-Eastern Rhodesia, from which it will be 

 gathered that he did not get his ivory for the 

 asking : 



"One Christmas, not long ago, I was camped 

 near Ndombo's village in North-Eastern Rho- 

 desia. I had left Broken Hill, just over two 

 thousand miles from Cape Town and at that 

 time the terminus of the railway, early in July, 

 and, after a very pleasant six months up country, 

 was now on my way down to Mpika, from 

 which spot a three weeks' march would take 

 me back to Broken Hill and civilisation. The 

 heavy rains had set in on December 12, turning 



