332 
THE ELEPHAKT. 
evinced no visible distress. After this I fired tliree 
shots at the same part, with the Dutch six-pounder. 
Large tears now trickled from his eyes, which he 
slowly shut and opened; his colossal frame shivered 
convulsively, and, falling on his side, he expired. 
The tusks of this elephant were beautifully arched, 
and the heaviest I have yet met with, averaging 
ninety pounds a-piece. 
C£ In case any fair reader may misinterpret my 
motive for making experiments to find out the 
most vulnurable point,’ 5 Gordon Cumming goes on 
to say, “ I beg them to remark that my object was 
not to torture the animal, but to put an end to its 
life and pain in the quickest manner possible. I 
had often lamented having to inflict so many 
wounds on these noble animals before they fell.” 
So much for the facility with which the elephant 
maybe “overhauled” and tc extinguished ” by the 
well-mounted sportsman, where the country is 
tolerably open. Not so, however, if the animal 
holds to jungly ground, more especially if strewn 
with broken and uprooted trees (the handiwork of 
the elephant), as in such situations the difficulty 
of killing him is very greatly increased. 
The hunter himself, moreover, is then exposed 
to great peril, as, in the event of the beasts 
charging, he is often puzzled to secure his re¬ 
treat. On these occasions it is useless attempt¬ 
ing to pick one’s path, and there is consequently 
great risk of a man’s being swept from off the saddle 
by the ec Wochten-bigte ,” or wait-a-bit thorns,* 
* On one of my journeys I counted no fewer than seven distinct 
