THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 59 



him, though feeling sure of being able to track him in the morning. He had one fine 

 tusk, and was the same Elephant I saw on the previous evening. 



It rained in torrents all night, so that tracking was out of the question. In the 

 morning I went out without my guns, but though I hunted all that day and the suc- 

 ceeding one, I never found a trace of the wounded tusker. He must have died, as he 

 had two five-bore bullets propelled by sixteen drams of powder, and three ten-bore 

 bullets with nine drams behind them, in his head ; all fired from the distance of a few paces 

 only. 



On the 28th, I had returned to Rikki Kase, and was sitting at breakfast, when a man 

 came in a state of breathless excitement with the news that the ' Khunni HdtJd ' was by 

 the roadside not a coss off, having just stopped his bullock cart. 



Having finished breakfast and looked to the caps of my rifles, I accompanied the man, 

 and had not gone much more than a mile when I saw a huge pair of hind quarters and a 

 swinging tail through a vista in the trees. The wind was in the wrong direction, so I sent 

 my guide up a tree, and making a long detour, regained the road on the other side of the 

 Elephant. Here I found two men with the bullock cart, in an abject state of terror. Telling 

 them to keep quiet, I went after the Elephant, and soon came in sight of him again. He 

 moved towards some thick jungle, so I ran on and placed myself in the direction which he 

 seemed most likely to take. He came straight on to within twenty yards, but the branches 

 and high reeds prevented me from getting a clear view of his head, so I would not fire. He 

 passed me and went round to leeward, so, fearing that he would scent me, I determined to 

 try the effect of laming him, and accordingly fired the heavy single barrel at his shoulder 

 from a distance of about forty yards. He turned round and bolted. 



Finding plenty of blood, I followed as fast as I could, and had tracked for perhaps half 

 a mile, when I heard an Elephant a little to my left. Going in the direction of the sound, 

 I saw him standing under a thick ' mdljan ' creeper. I fired at his off shoulder, thinking 

 that as he had stopped so soon for one bullet, he would not go far with both shoulders 

 lamed. He made off, and I had to wait a short time for bullets. On taking up the track 

 I found blood on the right side, and plenty of it. 



I had gone but a short distance when I again heard an Elephant in front of me, and 

 soon saw him standing under a tree among very thick undergrowth, where I could not very 

 well get at him. I therefore watched him for some time from a distance of about thirty yards. 

 I could only see the top of his head and his ear, so I could just make out what position he 

 was in. At length he turned straight towards me ; and kneeling down, I took a very steady 

 shot at the centre of his forehead. I heard one crack, as the sound of the rifle died away, 

 and then all was still. Walking up to the place, I found the huge beast lying stone dead, 

 my bullet having struck him just above the bump on the forehead. To my great disgust he 

 was a ' maknd ' (tuskless male). I had been unable to see whether he had tusks or not, on 

 account of the very thick jungle, but had taken it for granted that he had, and my gun-carrier, 

 Moti, had declared that he saw one large tusk. Blood was oozing from under his left 

 shoulder, on which side he had fallen, but to my astonishment there was no wound on the right 



