Elephantid^. MAMMALIA. ELEPHAnxiDiE. 183 
and as it also appears that at least fifty-two thousand 
elephants’ tusks are imported, it necessarily follows that 
twenty-six thousand of these gigantic animals are yearly 
put to death to satisfy our demand for its valuable 
incisor teeth ! If the present species, therefore, did 
not occupy an extensive area of distribution, a very 
few years would, at this ratio of destruction, suffice to 
render it altogether extinct. The improvements in 
fire-arms have rendered the slaughter ot this beast a 
matter of comparative ease ; and looking back on the 
page of history, it is not a little curious to observe the 
ridicule cast upon the statements of those who first, 
single-handed, undertook hunting expeditions into the 
interior of Africa. We even find the distinguished 
author of the “ Oriental Field Sports” severely ques- 
tioning the veracity of Monsieur Vaillant, who, at the 
close of the last century, published an account of his 
sporting successes in tire plains of the great African 
continent. “No native of Bengal, nor any European 
resident there," says Captain Williamson, “ would 
undertake such a piece of rashness as to go out shoot- 
ing wild elephants !” Time, however, silently works 
progress, and our libraries now teem with records of 
daring adventure with this most formidable probosci- 
dean pachyderm. Dr. Livingstone has borne testimony 
to the substantial accuracy of Mr. Gordon Cummiiig’s 
writings, and we are not aware that any one has 
thought it necessary to doubt the no less remarkable 
statements and experiences of Mr. Charles John An- 
dersson. Some of Mr. Cumming’s exploits appear to 
have been accompanied with unnecessary cruelty, which 
is the more to be regretted, as, under ordinary circum- 
stances, the manifest sufferings of these huge mammals 
in the agonies of death should be sufficient to excite 
sympathy, and induce the sportsman to deprive them 
of life in the swiftest manner possible. The behaviour 
of the young when deprived of a parent is particularly 
worthy of remark. Thus, Captain Harris having shot 
a female elephant' whilst liunting in Cashan mountains, 
was much struck with the subsequent conduct of its 
helpless calf. It was about three and a half feet high, 
and emerged from a bush, uttering mournful notes. 
“We had observed the unhappy little wretch,” he 
says, “ hovering about its mother after she fell, and 
having probably been unable to overtake the herd, it 
had passed a dreary night in the wood. Entwining its 
little proboscis about our legs, the sagacious creature, 
after demonstrating its delight at our arrival by a thou- 
sand ungainly antics, accompanied the party to the body 
of its dam, which, swollen to an enormous size, was 
surromided by an inquest of vultures. Seated in gaunt 
arrajq with their shoulders shrugged, these loathsome 
fowls were awaiting its decomposition -with forced 
resignation ; the tough hide having defied all the efforts 
of their beaks, with which the eyes and softer parts had 
been vigorously assailed. The conduct of the quaint 
little calf now became quite affecting, and elicited the 
RjTupathy of every one. It ran roimd its mother’s 
corpse with touching demonstrations of grief, piping 
sorrowfully, and vainly attempting to raise her with its 
tiny trunk. I confess I had felt compunctions in 
committing the murder the day before, and now half 
resolved never to assist in another ; for, in addition to 
the moving behaviour of the young elephant, I had 
been unable to divest myself of the idea that I was 
firing at my old favourite, Mowla-Buhhsli, from whose 
gallant back I had vanquished so many of my feline 
foes in Guzerat.” The captain, nevertheless, recovered 
himself sufficiently to assist in hewing out the tusks, an 
operation of no small difficulty even in the female. 
The elephant calf was next conducted to the waggons, 
but perished in the course of a few days, as did two 
others much older, which they afterwards captured. 
This also leads us to remark, that, notwithstanding 
the anxiety which naturalists have displayed in regard 
to the importation of a living African elephant, and 
the care with wliich they have conducted the prelimi- 
nary operations, all their efforts have as yet failed to 
prove successful. In a very recent attempt, the yomig 
proboscidean perished before it had left the shores 
of its native country. With regard to the experiences 
of other African adventurers, some of them possess a 
thrilling interest, and to those whose conceptions of the 
delights of hunting rise in proportion to the narrowness 
of escapes encomitered, we particularly commend the 
follorving most extraordinaiy adventure : — On a magni- 
ficent tropical moonlight night, Mr. Andersson, alone, 
as usual, took up his position on a narrow neck of land 
between two pools of water. He was protected by a 
small skdrm, built of stones, and had with him two or 
three guns and a blanket. Presently a noise like the 
passage of a train of artillery broke upon his ear, and an 
immense elephant appeared, followed by others, to tlie 
number of eighteen. “ Their towering forms told me 
at a glance,” says IMr. Andersson, “ that they were all 
males. It was a splendid sight to behold so many huge 
creatures approaching with a free, sweeping, unsuspect- 
ing, and stately step. The somewhat elevated gi'ound 
whence they emerged, and which gradually sloped 
towards the water, together with the misty night air, 
gave an increased appearance of bulk and mightiness 
to their naturally giant structures. Crouching down 
as low as possible in the skiirm, I waited, with beating 
heart and ready rifle, the approach of the leading male, 
who, unconscious of peril, was making straight for my 
hiding-place. The position of his body, however, was 
unfavourable for a shot ; and, knowing from experience 
that I had little chance of obtaining more than a single 
good one, I waited for an opportunity to fire at bis 
shoulder, which is preferable to any other part when 
shooting at night. But this chance, unfortunately, 
was not afforded till his enormous bulk towered 
above my head. The consequence was, that while in 
the act of raising the muzzle of my rifle over the 
skarm, my body caught his eye, and, before I could 
place the piece to my shoulder, lie swung himself round, 
and with trunk elevated and ears spread, desperately 
charged me. It rvas now too late to think of flight, 
much less of slaying the savage beast. My own life 
was in imminent jeopardy ; and seeing that if I remained 
partially erect he would inevitably seize me with his 
proboscis, I threw myself on my back with some 
violence, in which position, and without shouldering 
the rifle, I fired upwards at random towards his chest, 
uttering, at the same time, the most piercing shouts 
and cries. The change of position in all human 
