ELEPHANT, TAPIR, HYRAX, RHINOCEROS 155 
In disposition both African and Asiatic elephants are as a rule timid animals, and, excepting 
in the case of males of the latter species when suffering from sexual excitement, are always 
inclined to shun danger. I have never heard of male elephants of the African species becoming 
savage and aggressive at any season of the year; indeed, old bulls always appeared to me to be 
less inclined to charge than cows or young bulls. The eyesight of the elephant—of the African 
species at least—is bad, and his hearing not particularly acute; but his olfactory nerves are prob- 
ably more highly developed than in any other animal, and, aided by this exquisite sense of smell, 
he will avoid a human being if possible. But if elephants are attacked and wounded, they 
become savage and dangerous animals; and the charge of an African elephant, coming on with 
the great ears outspread, to the accompaniment of a quick succession of short, sharp trumpeting 
screams, besides being very sudden and rapid, is very disconcerting to the nerves of a man unac- 
customed to such experiences. I remember the case of a young Englishman who was killed in 
Matabililand many years ago by the first elephant he had ever seen. This animal—an old bull 
—had retired, after having been wounded, into a small but dense patch of thorn-bush, into which 
its pursuer thought it unadvisable to follow on horseback. He therefore left his horse, and 
advanced on foot towards the cluster of trees amongst which the elephant was concealed. The 
latter, having either seen or smelt the approaching enemy, at once charged out, screaming 
loudly ; and the young hunter, instead of standing his ground and firing at the advancing 
monster, lost his presence of mind, and, turning, ran for his horse; but before he reached it he 
was overtaken and killed. It seemed to the friend who found his body (he was close at hand 
shooting another elephant at the time, and pieced the story together from the tracks of man, 
horse, and elephant) that the victim had first been struck in the back of the head by one of his 
pursuer’s tusks—at any rate his skull had been smashed to pieces and emptied of its brains. 
Then the elephant had rushed upon him where he fell, and, after first having driven a tusk right 
through his chest and deep into the ground, had stamped him into a bloody pulp with his huge 
Photn be M. E. F. Baird, Bag, : . 
; INDIAN ELEPHANTS BATHING 
These animals love a bath, and will walk on the bottom of a deep river with only their trunks raised above the water 
