ELEPHANT HUNTING. 559 
before the echo of the bullet could reach my ear, I plainly 
saw that the elephant was mine. The dogs now came up and 
barked: around him, but finding himself incapacitated, the old 
fellow seemed determined to take it easy, and, limping slowly 
to a neighboring tree, he remained stationary, eyeing his 
pursuers with a resigned and philosophic air. 
I resolved to devote a short time to the contemplation of 
this noble elephant before I should lay him low; accordingly, 
having off-saddled the horses beneath a shady tree which was 
to be my quarters for the night and ensuing day, I quickly 
kindled a fire and put on the kettle, and in a very few minutes 
my coffee was prepared. There I sat in my forest home, 
coolly sipping my coffee, with one of the finest elephants in 
Africa awaiting my pleasure beside a neighboring tree. 
It was, indeed, a striking scene; and as I gazed upon the 
stupendous veteran of the forest, I thought of the red deer 
which I loved to follow in my native land, and felt that, 
though the Fates had driven me to follow a more daring and 
arduous avocation in a distant land, it was a good exchange 
which I had made, for I was now a chief over boundless 
forests, which yielded unspeakably more noble and exciting 
sport. 
Having admired thé elephant for a considerable time, I 
resolved to make experiments for vulnerable points, and, 
approaching very near, I fired several bullets at different 
parts of his enormous skull. These did not seem to affect 
him in the slightest; he only acknowledged the shots by a 
“salaam-like” movement of his trunk, with the point of which 
he gently touched the wound with a striking and peculiar 
action. Surprised and shocked to find that I was only tor- 
menting and prolonging the sufferings of the noble beast, which 
bore his trials with such dignified composure, I resolved to 
finish the proceeding with all possible dispatch ; accordingly, 
I opened fire upon him from the left side, aiming behind the 
shoulder; but even there it was long before my bullets 
