A PLEA FOR THE AFRICAN 

 ELEPHANT. 





I WISH I had the power to give my pen the voice of 

 eloquence, for assuredly should I do so when writing 

 upon this subject ; but even possessed of the attri- 

 butes which I desire, what can one person do to 

 prevent that craving for slaughter, that all-absorbing 

 desire for blood-shedding that is the ruling passion 

 of nearly all persons — particularly so-called civilized 

 and educated ones — when they have the chance pre- 

 sented to them of killing this grand mammoth of the 

 brute creation. 



The wealthy man anathematized the trader for 

 shooting elephants for the sake of their ivory, yet the 

 rich man does as bad, although he cannot plead that 

 his subsistence depends upon his doing so. The pro- 

 fessional elephant hunter is, as a rule, a rough and 

 indifferently educated man, who adopts this very 

 hardest of all businesses to obtain money to support 

 him when age, exposure, and haru. lip has told upon 

 his constitution, while the favoured son of fortune 

 goes in for killing this game that he may boast of his 

 prowess at his club, or exhibit his trophies to admiring 

 relatives and guests. I leave it for the unprejudiced 

 reader to judge which of these two types of men 

 deserve the greatest amount of condemnation ? To 

 prevent controversy, often leading to bad and vindic- 

 tive feelings, I will advance no arguments in favour 

 of one or the other, but appeal to those that have it 

 in their power, to put down with resolute, and un- 

 flinching severity, the destruction of this noble, saga- 



