174 EXPEDITION INTO 



hovering' about its mother after she fell^ and having* proba- 

 bly been unable to overtake the herd^ it had passed a dreary 

 nig'ht in the wood. Entwining* its little proboscis about 

 our leg's^ the sag-acious creature, after demonstrating* its de- 

 lig*ht at our arrival by a thousand ung*ainly antics, accom- 

 panied the party to the body of its dam ', which, swollen 

 to an enormous size, was surrounded by an inquest of vul- 

 tures. Seated in g*aunt array, with their shoulders slirug*- 

 g*ed, these loathsome fowls were awaiting* its decomposition 

 w ith forced resig-nation j the toug-h hide having- defied all the 

 efforts of their beaks, with which the eyes and softer parts 

 had been vig'orously assailed. The conduct of the quaint 

 little calf now became quite affecting*, and elicited the sym- 

 pathy of every one. It ran round its mother's corpse with 

 touching* demonstrations of g*rief, piping* sorrowfully, and 

 vainly attempting* to raise her with its tiny trunk. I con- 

 fess that I had felt compunctions in committing* the murder 

 the day before, and now half resolved never to assist in 

 another ; for in addition to the moving* behaviour of the 

 young- elephant, I had been unable to divest myself of the 

 idea that I was firing* at my old favourite 3Iowla-B\ikhsh, 

 from whose g*allant back I had vanquished so many of my 

 feline foes in Guzerat — an impression which, however ridi- 

 culous it must appear, detracted considerably from the satis- 

 faction I experienced. 



The operation of hewing* out three pair of tusks occu- 

 pied several hours, their roots, imbedded in massy sockets, 

 spreading* over the g-reater portion of the face. My Indian 

 friends will marvel when they hear of tusks being* extracted 

 from the jaws of a female elephant — but, with very few 

 exceptions, all that we saw had these accessories, measuring* 

 from three to four feet in leng*th. I have already stated 

 my belief that the maximum heig'ht of the African male 

 is twelve feet ; that of the female averages eiHit and a half 



