■ 
1$S THE GREAT ELEPHANT OF HASSANOOR. 
seen anything like it. She was a very large female ; 1 made 
her with the measuring tape eight feet seven niches. 
In 1863, when at Hassanoor with the late Sir Victor 
Brooke, he shot the largest elephant ever killed in Southern 
India. We had started early on the morning of the 30th of 
July, the native shikaries being very positive about elephants 
being in the neighbourhood We had not gone far before 
fresh marks and droppings dispelled all doubts, and shortly 
afterwards we came plump on a tusker standing amongst some 
low trees. We crept up to within twelve yards of him, but just 
as B> fired, the elephant had raised his head and was apparently 
picking his teeth with his trunk ; this threw the angle out and 
the ball went in front of the brain, or rather past it. He 
wheeled round at the shot, and I caught him an awful smite 
on the other ear with the Lancaster, wdiich nearly brought him 
down» but he recovered himself and went off at a great rate. 
B. took up the running and was very close to him at one time, 
but he got away ; he was not a very large animal, but his 
ivories were worth bagging. We returned to the bungalow to 
breakfast, B. a good deal cut up at the loss of the tusfcer. 
Soon after breakfast a number of elephants were reported 
about three miles off in the other valley through which the 
road passes, so away we went after them ; heard them in the 
valley below us, and presently saw some of them on the 
opposite side ; just then some men minding cattle hearing one 
of the elephants trumpeting began shouting " Anee, Anee ! " 
(Elephants, Elephants) which put the whole herd in motion. 
They all passed along a rather open space of the hill about 
a quarter of a mile distant. I never saw such a sight — there 
were at least sixty elephants, the leader being a splendid old 
bull; on they wentj sometimes in twos and threes, sometimes 
