134 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 23, 1909. 
it was as if an army had passed by, and by the 
signs we saw that in the herd there were some 
large ones. The country was very rough, 
sparsely watered, with some timber, and the 
traveling was at first exceedingly difficult. The 
second day the country was much easier to get 
over, with more water and swamp, though away 
from the valley it was still very rough. One 
would imagine that a large animal like an ele¬ 
phant would find it difficult to get over rough 
ground, and it is wonderful how they do it and 
how fast they can move. 
On the third morning C. and I went out along 
the swamp that bordered the river. The going 
was bad and the flies and mosquitoes terrible. 
VVe came across several places where the herd 
had been to water in the night and at last es¬ 
pied some of them scattered about, standing 
still under the shade of the trees. The heat 
was great and even they seemed to feel it. We 
could see about ten, mostly cows, and three of 
them with tolos. All at once C. grasped my 
arm and excitedly pointed to our right front. 
Yes, there were what we were looking for, two 
old bulls; one a veterai; with only one tusk and 
the other with two long thin tusks lazily flap¬ 
ping their big ears, quite unsuspicious of danger. 
The difficulty now was how to get up close to 
them,. 
To make certain of a dead shot with elephant 
you must be right up close and take the brain 
shot. When I say close I mean it; within fifteen 
or twenty yards, and as the brain is very small 
by comparison with the enormous head, one 
must be very sure. The brain is far from easy 
to locate. The two bulls were on high ground 
well above us and the only cover available was 
the long swamp grass and an occasional bush. 
Slowly we crept along, every nerve at full ten¬ 
sion, until when we had got to within fifty yards 
or so I was done up and had to stop. Excite¬ 
ment and nervousness had completely taken it 
out of me and I had to rest. The two were 
as yet absolutely unsuspicious and were stand¬ 
ing motionless, but for the slowly moving ears. 
All at once a suspicious old cow trumpeted. 
She must have got our wind, and up went her 
trunk, trying the wind to locate us. Instantly 
all were on the alert and a few started to move 
through the bushes. “Go on quickly; never 
mind,” C. gasped, and we went on toward the 
two bulls who up to now had not moved. A 
few more yards and C. said, “Shoot, man; 
shoot!” and at the same moment he fired twice 
with his double .500 and I followed suit. We 
had already arranged which one each was to 
shoot at. His bull, the one with the two tusks, 
moved slowly forward about two yards, sank 
on his knees and collapsed, but mine started off 
at a pretty lively rate. “Shoot him from be¬ 
hind,” shouted C., and I did so as quickly as 
I could, but before I could reload he was out 
of sight We could see that he was badly 
wounded and followed up quickly, but with cau¬ 
tion. By this time the cows had all disappeared, 
and on getting to the place where we had last 
seen the bull we sighted him again, going very 
slowly up the opposite side of the gully. 
Without a moment’s hesitation and as I 
thought in a most foolhardy manner, C. dashed 
after him, and when at the bottom of the gully, 
again had a double shot at him, aiming at his 
favorite spot, and down he went. So close was 
C. that he only just had time to get out of the 
way of the enormous beast as he rolled down 
again to the bottom. He was a fine bull, but 
had one tusk, and I am afraid that good as our 
luck had been we cursed. Why had not he two; 
but is one ever satisfied? 
We examined the shots carefully, and now, 
before going further with my story, I wish to 
make a remark. A shot at an elephant from 
behind is a very effective and good one, as with 
a solid bullet—which one of course uses for 
elephant—it is a raking shot, piercing the vitals, 
and will nearly always prove fatal; in fact, al¬ 
ways. He may travel for a little distance, but 
will not go far. In my small experience this 
applies to all animals. 
The single tusk weighed 102 pounds and the 
other two 78 and 76 respectively; so there we 
had about 250 pounds of ivory worth, roughly, 
say £200, not a bad day’s work. Hacking out 
the tusks is quite a delicate, slow business, as 
one must be careful not to chip the ivory. W., 
the other member of our party, had gone out 
on his own hook and returned late to camp, hav¬ 
ing traveled miles after a lone bull which he 
never sighted and was forced to give up. 
We hunted on every day, but with no further 
luck. Sometimes we came across the spoor of 
traveling elephants, but always some days old 
and so useless to follow up. Other game was 
scarce, and what we did see we did not like 
to shoot, for fear of disturbing elephants and 
as our provisions were getting short we decided 
to leave that part of the country, traveling east. 
We marched steadily for three days and then 
got into a different kind of country altogether; 
a very thick bamboo forest. No one who has 
never been in the bamboos can realize what this 
is like. You never see the sun from one day’s 
end to the other; nothing but dense bamboos, 
and it would be hard to get through at all, but 
for the paths broken down by herds of elephants 
when traveling and feeding. 
On the following day we came on fresh spoor, 
and could see where a small herd had been feed¬ 
ing a few hours previously, so we followed 
these. W. was very far from well, and we were 
anxious to get him back to a doctor. He was 
full of fever and was suffering a good deal of 
pain, and his condition caused us much anxiety, 
but he would not hear of our giving up follow¬ 
ing this herd, and insisted that he would get 
along until our return. Pitching camp right 
there, we left him and started on traveling the 
remainder of that day. It was easy enough to 
follow the spoor, and as we had come so far 
we slept on the trail and followed on next 
morning. We had a miserable night with very 
little to eat, and to add to our discomfort it 
began to rain and we got drenched; but the idea 
that perhaps a bull carrying £100 in his head 
was only a few miles ahead of us brightened up 
our spirits. Our boys at this time began to 
grumble and this made matters worse. They 
certainly had been on short rations, but by 
promises and threats we made them keep on 
with us. 
On we went hour after hour, and just as it 
was getting near noon we realized by the signs 
that we were close to them. Shortly after we 
heard them going through the bamboos just 
ahead. Luckily they were feeding and there¬ 
fore going slowly. Moving on quietly for a 
few hundred yards, C. suddenly stopped and 
pointed out to me a huge trunk that was pull¬ 
ing down the shoots of a bamboo, and on get¬ 
ting a little closer we saw that it was a bull. 
We were within fifteen yards of him and C. and 
I fired together at his head. He dropped where 
he stood. The noise that followed is indescrib¬ 
able, the shrill trumpetings and the noise made 
by the rest of the herd crashing through the 
bamboos. One cow came right on us. 
How is one to blame for defending oneself? 
You must realize that it is strictly against the 
law to shoot or kill a cow, and the law, or rather 
the powers that be, contend that it is your duty 
to get out of the cow’s way. But how can you 
do this among the thick stalks of a bamboo 
forest? It is rather hard to be charged at and 
not retaliate in any way. At any rate, C. had 
to shoot and succeeded in turning her. The bull 
was a good average one, his tusks going 73 and 
75 pounds. From what we saw afterward there 
must have been a larger one with the herd, but 
in thick forest it is practically impossible to 
choose; it is difficult enough to make out the 
difference between a bull and a cow. 
We now made for camp at top speed and 
reached it early the next day, having to experi¬ 
ence another night out. We found W. no bet¬ 
ter and decided to travel to the nearest settle¬ 
ment post haste, where we arrived in four days 
and handed W. over to the doctor. After a 
week’s rest he was able to accompany us on 
our return home, but he had quite a bad attack 
of fever. 
Elephant shooting is one of the most excit¬ 
ing forms of big game shooting. The difficulty 
and danger make it so. One must utilize one’s 
legs, for a horse is generally out of the question. 
Elephant’s feet make up into splendid trophies. 
Have the foot preserved and the nails polished 
and they make a fine flower stand or waste 
paper basket. The hairs of the tail mounted in 
gold make very nice bangles; besides being of 
personal value they are rare and very seldom 
seen. 
It is a common idea that an African elephant 
cannot be tamed and taught to work like his 
Indian brother, but I should think this doubtful. 
To prove it would necessitate a large outlay, 
but it would be a good speculation or gamble 
rather. One would have to import two or three 
trained Indian elephants to teach their wild re¬ 
lations, and if it turned out trumps, the specu¬ 
lator would make money. Here is a chance for 
someone who is fond of sport and who has the 
money to invest. A Full Hand. 
Game Protectors* Convention. 
The annual convention of the game protectors 
of the State of New York will be held in Albany 
on Feb. g and 10. The first day’s session will 
be open to the public, and the programme will 
include addresses by several prominent men who 
are interested in game and fish protection. 
MOTHERS BE CAUTIOUS. 
In selecting a food for the baby don’t ex¬ 
periment. Baby can’t stand much experiment¬ 
ing. Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk 
is acted upon by the infant stomach substan¬ 
tially the same as mother’s milk. For 50 
years it has made glad mothers and started 
thousands of babies on life’s journey with 
health and happiness.— Adv. 
