in THE ELEPHANT 113 
the flesh and making a post-mortem examination. 
We found the inside partially destroyed by the 
explosive shell, which had shattered the lungs, but 
there was an old wound still open where a bullet had 
entered the chest, and missing the heart and lungs in 
an oblique course, it had passed through the stomach, 
then through the cavity of the body beneath the ribs 
and flank, and had penetrated the fleshy mass inside 
the thigh. In that great resisting cushion of strong 
muscles the bullet had expended its force, and found 
rest from its extraordinary course of penetration. 
After some trouble, I not only traced its exact route, 
but I actually discovered the projectile embedded in 
a foul mass of green pus, which would evidently have 
been gradually absorbed without causing serious 
damage to the animal. To my surprise, it was my 
own No. 10 two-groove conical bullet, composed 
of twelve parts lead and one of quicksilver, which I 
had fired when this elephant had advanced towards 
me at night, forty-two days ago, and 22 miles, as 
far as I could ascertain, from the spot where I had 
now killed it. The superior size of this animal to 
the remainder of the herd had upon both occasions 
attracted my special attention, hence the fact of selec¬ 
tion, but I was surprised that any animal should have 
recovered from such a raking shot. The cavity of the 
body abounded with hairy worms about 2 inches 
in length. These had escaped from the stomach 
through the two apertures made by the bullet; and 
upon an examination of the contents, I found a great 
number of the same parasites crawling among the 
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