310 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
employed in such useful manufactures, and when the 
dry months arrived, these two excellent men started 
upon hunting expeditions, and combined business 
with pleasure. 
Although Florian was clever with both head and 
hands, he was a bad shot; his guns were of a 
common and dangerous description, one of which 
burst, and blew his left thumb and forefinger off. 
After his recovery from this accident he still ex¬ 
celled in work, but he was exceedingly clumsy with 
his weapons, which were always going off by 
accident. Upon several occasions these uninten¬ 
tional explosions took place so close to my own head 
that I suggested it would be safer should he adopt 
solitary rambles instead of shooting in company. 
One night he killed an elephant while watching 
by moonlight at a drinking-place. On the following 
morning he sent a trustworthy Tokroori native with 
an axe to cut out the tusks. The man presently 
returned with the news that a large lion had eaten a 
portion of the elephant, and was lying asleep close 
by, beneath a tree. 
Florian immediately gave his man a single- 
barrelled rifle, and taking a double smooth-bore 
himself, the two proceeded together towards the 
spot. Upon arrival at the place where the body of 
the elephant was lying, the lion was immediately 
discovered beneath a leafless bush, where it had been 
seen by the Tokroori. The animal appeared to be 
thoroughly gorged with elephant’s flesh, and, half 
asleep in the hot sun, it took very little notice of the 
