242 
THE ELEPHANT. 
perfectly distinct from that of the African. The 
forehead of the former, when held in the natural 
position of inaction, is perpendicular; and above 
the slight convexity at the root of the trunk, there 
is a depression, in shape like a herald’s shield ; a 
bullet in the lower portion of that shield would 
reach the brain in a direct line. The head of the 
African elephant is completely convex from the com¬ 
mencement of the trunk to the back of the skull, 
and the brain is situated much lower than that of 
the Indian species; the bone is of a denser quality, 
and the cases for the reception of the tusks are so 
closely parallel that there is barely room for a 
bullet to find a chance of penetrating to the brain ; 
it must be delivered in the exact centre, and ex¬ 
tremely low, in the very root of the trunk; even 
then it will frequently pass above the brain, as the 
animal generally carries his head high, and thrown 
slightly back. 
Hence, though a forehead-shot at an Indian ele¬ 
phant, as testified to by several celebrated Indian 
sportsmen of my acquaintance, is almost certain 
death, yet to the African species the chances are 
that not one bullet out of twenty, though it may 
stagger him for an instant, or even cause him to 
deviate from his course, will prove fatal. That such 
is the fact was strikingly exemplified by Sir Samuel 
Baker, who tells us that, though he on one occasion 
lodged three successive balls from a heavily loaded 
and large-bored rifle in the forehead of a charging 
elephant (one of them when the creature was at 
only some four paces distance), they had no other 
