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 " Eogues " 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." — {lb., 2 Ibid. 

 vol. ii. pp. 4, 5.) 



L 2 



