THE ELEPHANT 
( ELEPHAS MAXIMUS) 
E LEPHANTS are found in the wild state in the jungle districts of 
India, Assam, Burma and Ceylon. These animals are, however, 
such a valuable asset of transport that they are very seldom 
shot in localities where it is possible to capture and domesticate 
them. 
The chief points in which the Asiatic differs from the African 
species are comparative smallness of the ears, structure of the teeth, the 
flatness of the forehead, and the fact that the animal has only one tip to its 
trunk instead of two. 
Those who have ridden elephants much learn to love them and are not 
likely to want to shoot many specimens. It is difficult to understand how 
anyone could have cared to slaughter the number credited to certain 
sportsmen in Ceylon in the olden days, more especially as the island race 
hardly ever carries any ivory. 
The usual method of capturing wild elephants is by the keddahs , a 
system of driving them into enclosures. In some places, like Bhutan, 
where the late Maharajah of Cooch Behar had the monopoly, they are 
noosed with ropes thrown from the backs of tame elephants. This way 
of catching them provides one of the most exciting forms of sport in the 
world. 
Owing to the conformation of the skull, a deadly frontal shot is easier to 
make against the Indian than the African variety; still, with a really 
powerful rifle it is better to fire at the shoulder, as the brain is very small 
for a beast of this size. According to the writer’s experience, an elephant 
struck near the point of the shoulder, especially from in front, with a 
nickel -coated or steel -nosed bullet, does not go far and can easily be 
finished off; while a similar bullet behind the shoulder has not always 
resulted in the beast being bagged. 
Wild elephants at times do much damage to cultivation, and occasionally 
one turns “ rogue,” and a reward is offered for his destruction. Once when 
shooting in Assam our camp was invaded on two consecutive nights by a 
wild elephant which attacked the tame ones and caused considerable 
damage. This was a gunesh , or single tusker, which has a great advantage 
in fighting over an opponent with two tusks, and our best howdah elephant 
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