274 ELEPHANT KILLED. [chap. x. 
a heavy fall sounded his knell, and the crowd rushed 
in. He was a fine bull, and before I allowed him to 
be cut up, I sent for the measuring-tape; the result 
being as follows :— 
Feet. Inches. 
From tip of trunk to fleshy end of tail.26 \ 
Height from shoulder to fore-foot in a perpendicular 
line.10 6^ 
Girth of fore-foot.4 10£ 
Length of one tusk in the curve.6 6 
Ditto of fellow tusk (el Hadam, the servant) ... 511 
Weight of tusks, 80 lbs. and 69 lbs. = 149 lbs. 
The ridiculous accounts that I have read, stating 
that the height of elephants attains fifteen feet, is 
simply laughable ignorance. A difference of a foot in 
an elephant’s height is enormous; he appears a giant 
among his lesser comrades. Observe the difference 
between a horse sixteen hands high and a pony of 
thirteen hands, and the difference of a foot in the 
height of a quadruped is exemplified. 
The word being given, the crowd rushed upon the 
elephant, and about three hundred people were attack¬ 
ing the carcase with knives and lances. About a 
dozen men were working inside as though in a tunnel; 
they had chosen this locality as being near to the fat, 
which was greatly coveted. 
A few days later I attempted to set fire to the grass 
jungle, but it would not burn thoroughly, leaving 
scorched stems that were rendered still tougher by the 
fire. On the following evening I took a stroll over 
the burnt ground to look for game. No elephants 
had visited the spot; but as I was walking along 
expecting nothing, up jumped a wild boar and sow 
from the entrance of a large hole of the Manis, or 
great scaled ant-eater. Being thus taken by surprise, 
the boar very imprudently charged me, and was imme¬ 
diately knocked over dead by a shot through the spine 
from the little Fletcher rifle, while the left-hand barrel 
rolled over his companion, who almost immediately 
