HOW TO APPROACH ELEPHANTS. 195 



Ms work. In a small herd the difficulties are less, but as a rule the tuskers 

 are not so fine as those with larger herds. 



When feeding, elephants will usually be found to be heading steadily in 

 a certain direction ; the rear-guard should then be examined for the tuskers, 

 as they seldom go in front. The most ordinary precaution will enable the 

 sportsman and his gun-bearers to move about within a few yards of them, 

 if in cover, as long as they keep the wind, which is the one thing needful to 

 observe in stalking elephants. It is seldom that they cannot be approached 

 to within ten yards for a shot. When herd elephants are at rest, they 

 dispose themselves in scattered squads in close contiguity. There is then 

 nothing to distract their attention as they doze, and they are more liable to 

 observe danger than when engaged in feeding. On the least alarm they 

 close up, and if their fears seem weU founded they make off, and the best 

 tuskers, which are probably near (but are seldom found amongst the females), 

 may escape without being seen. It is consequently often advisable to use 

 patience and to remain at a distance till the herd is again at graze — sa}- after 

 three o'clock in the afternoon — rather than approach elephants in cover 

 during the day. I have never seen a tusker undertake to cover the retreat 

 of a herd ; they take a line of their own invariably when danger threatens. 

 The alarm of the presence of man is usually communicated by the ele- 

 phant that discovers it by a peculiar short, shrill trumpet, weU understood 

 by the others, and which the sportsman will soon learn to distinguish 

 amongst all the other sounds made by elephants. AU stand perfectly still 

 at this signal for some minutes, when, if they make up their minds that the 

 alarm is well founded, they close up and move rapidly off. At other times, 

 if the elephant that perceives danger discovers that it is very near, it moves 

 off quickly without a sound. The alarm is at once taken by aU the others, 

 and a beginner in elephant-shooting may find that the whole herd has been 

 gone some time before he is aware that he has even been discovered. If 

 attacked, the stampede of a herd is overwhelming : whilst running, some of 

 the elephants often trumpet shrilly in alarm and anger; and if hard pressed, 

 females with young calves will turn upon their pursuers without hesitation. 

 It occasionally happens that elephants mistake the quarter from which 

 danger comes, and during their rush to escape, the sportsman may be placed 

 in great danger. When a herd stampedes it is impossible to teU for a 

 moment, amongst the crashing of bamboos and tearing down of creepers from 

 high trees, which way they are making, if they are hidden in dense cover. 

 The best thing to do on all occasions is to stand still against a tree or bam- 

 boo-clump ; to run is to risk being tripped up, and perhaps to be left sprawl- 

 ing in the elephants' path, or to provoke a chase if they are close behind. 



