206 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



brain as does his Indian brother, the brain of the former 

 being very small and protected by a bony framework of 

 superior thickness; but a ball entering between the eyes, at 

 the root of the trunk, will pass through the cellular structure 

 of the skull directly to the animal's brain. This frontal shot, 

 however, is more difficult to make than that between ear 

 and eye, because of the smallness of the mark and the ne- 

 cessity of having the animal directly in front of you.* 



It is stated that Sir Samuel Baker was the first hunter who 

 tested the virtues of a small-bore rifle (.450, black powder) 

 on elephants. He was led to do so because his favourite gun 

 chanced not to be at hand at the moment, but he was so well 

 satisfied with the result that he continued to make use of 

 this calibre instead of a greater one. Later, the still smaller 

 .303 English gun came into vogue, and was found to be effec- 

 tive against both elephants and rhinoceroses. Nowadays, 

 with a powerful charge, excellent work can be done with a 

 .256 Mannlicher or a .276 Mauser, and Doctor Rainsford 

 writes that on one occasion a bullet fired from a Mannlicher 

 at 200 yards' distance, and entering an elephant's body 

 from behind, passed right through it and lodged in the 

 heart, t 



The supremacy of the Congo as an elephant field is un- 

 questioned to-day. Of many remarkable successes made 

 here by individual hunters, one is noted in which a four 

 months' hunt brought in two tons of ivory. 



The sport here is also said to entail less danger than in 

 the British territory, the Congo elephants being less fero- 

 cious than those of Uganda or the British Protectorate. 

 Though as a sport elephant hunting seems to exercise a great 

 fascination, it is interesting to note that even the enthusiastic 

 sportsman is sometimes moved to regard the matter with a 



tibid., p. 11779. 

 *Ibid., p. 11781. 



