272 WILD ANIMALS. 



by the patriarch, leader. When the poor animals had gained 

 possession of the tank (the leader being the last to enter), they 

 seemed to abandon themselves to enjoyment without restraint or 

 apprehension of danger. Such a mass of animal life I had never 

 before seen huddled together in so narrow a space. It seemed to 

 me as though they would have nearly drunk the tank dry. I 

 watched them with great interest until they had satisfied them- 

 selves as well in bathing as in drinking, when I tried how small a 

 noise would apprise them of the proximity of unwelcome neigh- 

 bours. I had but to break a little twig and the solid mass 

 instantly took to flight like a herd of frightened deer, each of the 

 smaller calves being apparently shouldered and carried along 

 between two of the older ones." 



Sir Samuel Baker says that in Ceylon he seldom met old bulls 

 in parties, but in Africa large herds are met with consisting 

 entirely of bulls, and he had frequently seen sixteen or twenty 

 splendid bulls together, "presenting a show of ivory most exciting 

 to a hunter." 



For some reason or another, which has hardly been satis- 

 factorily explained although variously accounted for, a single 

 animal, generally a young male, will leave or be driven from the 

 herd, and become in consequence that dreaded creature, " a rogue 

 elephant," developing nearly always a very objectionable malicious- 

 ness, becoming savage, very destructive, and an object of terror to 

 the villagers or tribes in his vicinity. 



The most vulnerable place of the elephant that can be reached 

 by a buUet is the brain, and hunters have to aim for certain 

 particular places, such as the only opening between the bones that 

 exists in the forehead, or some other exposed parts. The different 

 methods are called the front shot, the side shot, the temple shot, 

 and the shot behind the ear. If one of these spots is not reached 

 the animal will become infuriated and charge, and elephant- 

 hunting assumes at once a dangerous aspect, for it frequently 

 becomes " hunting by the elephant," which often has a tragic 

 termination. The opinion of several experienced hunters could be 

 quoted on the subject. Gordon Oumming writes : "It is the 

 fashion for some people to say the elephant is an innocent and 



