ELEPHANT HUNTING. 135 



frighten him away from his old haunts, for he frequented the same 

 locality for several years. At last, however, a sportsman stole out 

 one fine night in pajamas and slippers, found the battle-scarred 

 veteran feeding close to the traveller's bungalow, and sent a ball 

 into his brain, which ended his career. 



Much has been written about the vulnerable points of an ele- 

 phant's skull, and they are usually reckoned at two or three, but 

 the fact of the matter is simply this : with a proper weapon, prop- 

 erly loaded, it is possible, nay easy, to reach the brain of an ele- 

 phant from any quarter, side, or front, provided the animal is not 

 charging you, and is not more than twenty yards away. When a 

 gun will send a ball entirely through an elephant's head and out on 

 the other side, even when fired through the thickest part of the 

 skull, it stands to reason that one part of the skull wiU be as vul- 

 nerable as any other, and it makes no difference whether you fire 

 at the forehead, temple, or ear, from above, below, or behind, so 

 long as it is jiossible to get a fair, unobstructed shot. Wlien an 

 elephant is charging, the head is held high, the trunk tightly 

 curled and thrown forward, so that the buUet must be sent through 

 nearly two feet of ti'unk before even reaching the skull, a task al- 

 most impossible to accompHsh with certainty and precision. The 

 hunter must be perfectly familiar with the anatomy of the ele- 

 phant's skull. Then, and then only, will he know at what point to 

 aim in order to reach the brain. When on a level with his ele- 

 phant's head the vulnerable point will be somewhere on a horizontal 

 line drawn around the head from the ear-opening, three inches above 

 the eye, and to the very centre of the bump in the middle of the 

 face, which is really the base of the trunk and the nasal opening. 

 When one is above the elephant, the vulnerable point will be above 

 that line according to the height of the hunter's position, and when 

 he is below him, it will be a proportionate distance below. 



The brain of a full-grown Indian elephant is of verj' irregular, 

 and almost indescribable shape, its greatest width being 10^ inches 

 and extreme length 11. From the side, it is at best a difficult 

 mark to hit, even when seen, and infinitely more so when hidden 

 away in a mass of bone and flesh. 



We encountered a herd of elephants the very day after we 

 camped at Tellicul. We started out about noon to find elephants, 

 if possible, and whatever else we could find in the way of mammals. 

 We had not gone far when up jumped a fine stag sambur, a 

 half-grown fawn, and a doe. The first two dashed away with the 



