A VETERAN OF THE FOREST. 
331 
periodical river; and here I came in full view of 
the tallest and largest bull-elephant I had ever seen. 
He stood broadside to me, at upwards of one hun¬ 
dred yards, and halting my horse, I fired at his, 
shoulder, and secured him with a single shot. The 
ball caught him high upon the shoulder-blade, 
rendering him instantly dead lame. 
“ I resolved to devote a short time to the con¬ 
templation of this noble elephant before I should 
lay him low. It was, indeed, a striking sight; and 
as I gazed upon the stupendous veteran of the 
forest, I thought of the red deer which I loved to 
follow on my own native hills, and felt that, though 
the Fates had driven me to a distant land, it was 
a good exchange which I had made, for I was now 
a chief over boundless forests, which yielded un¬ 
speakably more noble and exciting sport. 
“ Having admired the elephant for a time, I made 
some experiments for vulnerable points, and ap¬ 
proaching very near, fired several bullets at different 
parts of his enormous skull. These did not seem 
to affect him in the slightest degree — he only 
acknowledged the shots by a 4 salaam-like ’ move¬ 
ment of his trunk, with the point of which he 
gently touched the wound with a striking and 
peculiar action. Surprised and shocked to find 
that I was only tormenting and prolonging the 
sufferings of the noble beast, which bore his trials 
with such dignified composure, I resolved to finish 
the proceeding with all possible dispatch ; accord¬ 
ingly, I opened fire upon him behind the shoulder, 
and fired six shots with the two-grooved, which 
must eventually have proved mortal, but as yet he 
