Chap. IV.] 
THE ELEPHANT. 
147 
The shooting of elephants in Ceylon has been de- 
scribed with tiresome iteration in the successive journals 
of sporting gentlemen, but one who turns to their pages 
for traits of the animal and his instincts is disappointed 
to find little beyond graphic sketches of the daring and 
exploits of his pursuers, most of whom, having had no 
further opportunity of observation than is derived from a 
casual encounter with the outraged animal, have ap- 
parently tried to exalt their own prowess, by misrepre- 
senting the ordinary character of the elephant, describing 
him as " savage, wary, and revengeful." 1 
These epithets may undoubtedly apply to the outcasts 
from the herd, the " Rogues " or hora allia, but so small 
is the proportion of these that there is not probably one 
rogue to be found for every five hundred of those in 
herds ; and it is a manifest error, arising from imperfect 
information, to extend this censure to them generally, 
or to suppose the elephant to be an animal " thirsting 
for blood, lying in wait in the jungle to rush on the 
unwary passer-by, and knowing no greater pleasure than 
the act of crushing his victim to a shapeless mass beneath 
his feet." 2 The cruelties practised by the hunters have 
no doubt taught these sagacious creatures to be cautious 
and alert, but their precautions are simply defensive; 
and beyond the alarm and apprehension which they 
into his bloody mouth until he died, 1 The Rifle and the Hound in 
when he pitched heavily forward Ceylon ; by S. W. Baker, Esq., pp. 
with the whole weight of his fore- 8, 9. " Next to a rogue," says Mr. 
quarters resting on the points of his Baker, "in ferocity, and even more 
tusks. The strain was fair, and persevering in the pursuit of her 
the tusks did not yield ; but the victim, is a female elephant." But 
portion of his head in which the he appends the significant qualifi- 
tusks were embedded, extending a cation, " when her young one has 
long way above the eye, yielded and been killed." — Ibid., p. 13. 
burst with a muffled crash." — (i5„ 2 Ibid. 
vol. ii. pp. 4, 5.) 
