Elephantid-e.- 



-MAMMALIA.- 



-Elephantid^. 



183 



and as it also appears that at least fifty-two thousand 

 elephants' tusks are imported, it necessarily follows that 

 twenty -six thousand of these gigantic animals are yearly 

 put to death to satisfy our demand for its valuable 

 incisor teeth ! If the present species, therefore, did 

 not occupy an extensive area of distribution, a very 

 few years would, at this ratio of destruction, suffice to 

 render it altogether extinct. The improvements in 

 fire-arms have rendered the slaughter ot this beast a 

 matter of comparative ease ; and looking back on tlie 

 page of history, it is not a little curious to observe the 

 ridicule cast upon the statements of those who first, 

 single-handed, undeilook hunting expeditions into the 

 interior of Africa. We even find the distinguished 

 author of the " Oriental Field Sports" severely ques- 

 tioning the veracity of Monsieur Vaillant, who, at the 

 close of the last century, published an account of his 

 sporting successes in the plains of the gi'eat African 

 continent. " No native of Bengal, nor any European 

 resident </;fre," saj'S Captain Williamson, " would 

 undertake such a piece of rashness as to go out shoot- 

 ing wild elephants !" Time, however, silently works 

 progress, and our libraries now teem with records of 

 daring adventure with this most formidable probosci- 

 dean pachyderm. Dr. Livingstone has borne testimony 

 to the substantial accuracy of Mr. Gordon Cumming's 

 writings, and we are not aware that any one has 

 thought it necessary to doubt the no less remarkable 

 statements and experiences of Mr. Charles John An- 

 dersson. Some of Mr. Cumming's exploits appear to 

 have been accompanied with imnccessary ciTielty, which 

 is the more to be regretted, as, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, the manifest sufferings of these huge mammals 

 in the agonies of death should be sufBcicnt to excite 

 sympathy, and induce the sportsman to deprive them 

 of life in the swiftest manner possible. The behaviour 

 of the young when deprived of a parent is particularly 

 worOiy of remark. Thus, Captain Harris having shot 

 a female elephant wliilst luuiting in Cashan mountains, 

 was much strack with the subsequent conduct of its 

 helpless calf. It was about three and a half feet high, 

 and emerged from a bush, uttering moiu-nful notes. 

 " We had observed the luihappy little wretch," he 

 says, " hovering about its mother after she fell, and 

 having probably been unable to overtake the herd, it 

 had passed a dreary night in the wood. Entwining its 

 little proboscis about our legs, the sagacious creature, 

 after demonstrating its delight at our arrival by a thou- 

 sand ungahily antics, accompanied the party to the body 

 of its dam, which, swollen to an enormous size, was 

 surrounded by an inquest of vultures. Seated in gaunt 

 array, with their shoulders shmgged, these loathsome 

 fowls were awaiting its decomposition with forced 

 resignation ; the tough hide hawng defied all the eflbrts 

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

 been vigorously assailed. The conduct of the quaint 

 little calf now became quite affectmg, and elicited the 

 B}Tnpathy of every one. It ran round its mother's 

 corpse with touching demonstrations of grief, piping 

 sorro^\•fully, and vainly attempting to raise her with its 

 tiny trunk. I confess I had felt compunctions in 

 committing the murder the day before, and now half 

 resolved nevpr to assist in another; for, in addition to 



the moving beha\nour of the young elejihant, I had 

 been unable to divest myself of the idea that I was 

 firing at my old favourite, Mou-la-Buhhsh, from whose 

 gallant back I had vanquished so many of my feline 

 foes in Guzerat." The captain, nevertheless, recovered 

 himself sufficiently to assist in hewing out the tusks, an 

 operation of no small difficulty even in the female. 

 The elephant calf was next conducted to the waggons, 

 but perished in the course of a few dajs, as did two 

 others much older, wliich they afterwards captured. 

 This also leads us to remark, that, notwithstanding 

 the anxiety which naturalists have displayed in regard 

 to the importation of a living African elephant, and 

 the care with which they have conducted the prelimi- 

 nary operations, all their eflbrts have as yet failed to 

 prove successful. In a very recent attempt, the yoimg 

 jiroboscidean perished before it had left the shores 

 of its native country. With regard to the experiences 

 of other African adventurers, some of them possess a 

 thrilling interest, and to those whose conceptions of tlie 

 delights of hunting rise in proportion to the narrowness 

 of escapes encomitered, we particularly commend tlie 

 following most extraordinary adventure: — On a magni- 

 ficent tropical moonlight night, Mr. Andersson, alone, 

 as usual, took up his position on a narrow neck of land 

 between two pools of water. He was protected by a 

 small sl'cirm, built of stones, and had with him two or 

 three gims and a blanket. Presently a noise like the 

 passage of a train of artillery broke upon his ear, and an 

 immense elephant appeared, followed by others, to the 

 number of eighteen. " Their towering forms told me 

 at a glance," says Mr. Andersson, " that they were all 

 males. It was a splendid sight to behold so many huge 

 creatures approaching with a free, sweeping, unsuspect- 

 ing, and stately step. The somewhat elevated gi'ourid 

 whence tliey emerged, and wliich gradually sloped 

 towards tlie water, together with the misty night air, 

 gave an increaseii appearance of bulk and miglitiness 

 to their naturally giant structures. Crouching down 

 as low as possible in the skiirm, I waited, with beating 

 heart and ready rifle, the approach of the leading male, 

 who, unconscious of peril, was makmg straight for my 

 hiding-place. The position of his body, however, was 

 unfavourable for a shot ; and, knoT\ing from experience 

 that I had little chance of obtaining more than a single 

 good one, 1 waited for an opportunity to fire at his 

 shoulder, which is preferable to any other part when 

 shooting at night. But this chance, unfortunately, 

 was not afforded till his enormous bulk towered 

 above my head. The consequence was, that while in 

 the act of raising tlie muzzle of my rifle over the 

 skarm, my body caught his eye, and, before I could 

 place the piece to my shoulder, he swung himself round, 

 and with trunk elevated and ears spread, desperately 

 charged me. It was now too late to think of flight, 

 much less of slaying the savage beast. My own life 

 was in imminent jeopardy ; and seeing that if I remained 

 partially erect he would mevitably seize me with his 

 proboscis, I threw myself on my back with some 

 violence, in wliich position, and without shouldering 

 the rifle, I fired upwards at random towards liis chest, 

 uttermg, at the same time, the most piercing shouts 

 and cries. The change of position in all human 



