ELEPHANT HUNTING. 539 
his exquisite sense of smell. To obtain these he turns up 
the ground with his tusks, and whole acres may be seen thus 
plowed up. Elephants consume an immense quantity of 
food, and pass the greater part of the day and night in 
feeding. Like the whale in the ocean, the elephant on land 
is acquainted with, and roams over, wide and extensive 
tracts. He is extemely particular in always frequenting 
the freshest and most verdant districts of the forest; and 
when one district is parched and barren, he will forsake it 
for years, and wander to great distances in quest of better 
pasture. 
The elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, 
and a child can put a hundred of them to flight by passing 
at a quarter of a mile to windward; and when thus disturbed, 
they go a long way before they halt. It is surprising how 
ae ae i animals = aware of the oe of a 
hunter in their domains. When one troop has been attacked, 
all the other elephants frequenting the district are aware of 
the fact within two or three days, when they all forsake it, and 
migrate to distant parts, leaving the hunter no alternative 
but to inspan his wagons and remove to fresh ground. ~ This 
constitutes one of the greatest difficulties which a skillful 
elephant-hunter encounters. Even in the most remote parts, 
which may be reckoned the head-quarters of the elephant, it is 
only occasionally, and with inconceivable toil and hardship, that 
the eye of the hunter is cheered by the sight of one. Owing to 
habits peculiar to himself, the elephant is more inaccessible, 
and much more rarely seen, than any other game quadruped, 
excepting certain rare antelopes. They choose for ‘their 
resort the most lonely and secluded depths of the forest, 
generally at a very great distance from the rivers and 
fountains at which they drink. In dry and warm weather 
they visit these waters nightly, but in cool and cloudy weather 
they drink only once every third or fourth day. About 
sundown the elephant leaves his distant mid-day haunt, and 
