The Ivory King: A popular history of the elephant and its allies

by Charles Frederick Holder

The wonderful daring of these hunters, of whom Sir S. W. Baker said that he felt like taking off his hat to, is well shown in the following account given by that well-known hunter and explorer:—

“Having the wind fair, we advanced quickly for about half the distance, at which time we were within a hundred and fifty yards of the elephant, which had just arrived at the water, and had commenced drinking. We now crept cautiously towards him. The sand-bank had decreased to a height of about two feet, and afforded very little shelter. Not a tree nor bush grew upon the surface of the barren sand, which was so deep that we sank nearly to the ankles at every footstep. Still we crept forward, as the elephant alternately drank, and then spouted the water in a shower over his colossal form; but, just as we had arrived within about fifty yards, he happened to turn his head in our direction, and immediately perceived us. He cocked his enormous ears, gave a short trumpet, and for an instant he wavered in his determination whether to attack or fly; but, as I rushed towards him with a shout, he turned towards the jungle, and I immediately fired a steady shot at the shoulder with the ‘Baby.’ As usual, the fearful recoil of the rifle, with a half-pound shell and twelve drachms of powder, nearly threw me backwards; but I saw the mark upon the elephant’s shoulder in an excellent line, although rather high. The only effect of the shot was to send him off at great speed towards the jungle. But at the same moment the three aggageers came galloping across the sand, like greyhounds in a course, and, judiciously keeping parallel with the jungle, they cut off his retreat; and, turning towards the elephant, they confronted him, sword in hand. At once the furious beast charged straight at the enemy. But now came the very gallant but foolish part of the hunt. Instead of leading the elephant by the flight of one man and horse, according to their usual method, all the aggageers at the moment sprang from their saddles; and upon foot, in the heavy sand, they attacked the elephant with their swords.

“In the way of sport, I never saw any thing so magnificent, or so absurdly dangerous. No gladiatorial exhibition in the Roman arena could have surpassed this fight. The elephant was mad with rage; and, nevertheless, he seemed to know that the object of the hunters was to get behind him. This he avoided with great dexterity, turning, as it were, upon a pivot with extreme quickness, and charging headlong, first at one, and then at another, of his assailants, while he blew clouds of sand in the air with his trunk, and screamed with fury. Nimble as monkeys, nevertheless the aggageers could not get behind him. In the folly of excitement, they had forsaken their horses, which had escaped from the spot. The depth of the loose sand was in favor of the elephant, and was so much against the men, that they avoided his charges with extreme difficulty. It was only by the determined pluck of all three, that they alternately saved each other; as two invariably dashed in at the flanks when the elephant charged the third, upon which the wary animal immediately relinquished the chase, and turned round upon his pursuers. During this time, I had been laboring through the heavy sand; and, shortly after I arrived at the fight, the elephant charged directly through the aggageers, receiving a shoulder-shot from one of my Reilly No. 10 rifles, and, at the same time, a slash from the sword of Abou Do, who, with great dexterity and speed, had closed in behind him, just in time to save the leg. Unfortunately, he could not deliver the cut in the right place, as the elephant, with increased speed, completely distanced the aggageers: he charged across the deep sand, and reached the jungle. We were shortly upon his tracks; and, after running about a quarter of a mile, he fell dead in a dry water-course. His tusks, like the generality of Abyssinian elephants, were exceedingly short, but of good thickness.”

The tactics employed in shooting Asiatic elephants are not always successful when applied to the African species; and the forehead-shot, referred to in the chapter on hunting the Asiatic elephant, is rarely made. The only forehead-shot that Sir S. W. Baker ever made was on the Settite River; the ball entering the base of the trunk, and lodging in the vertebræ of the neck,—a chance shot. At fifty feet, the temple-shot is often made; but the old hunters generally aim at the shoulder, or just behind it.

The flesh of the elephant is greatly esteemed by some native Africans, especially the fat; while the feet, when well cooked, are considered delicacies by some European hunters.

When the Bechuanas obtain a dead elephant, they not only enter the body, and literally mine for the fat,—hacking it out, and passing it to their comrades,—but besmear themselves with the blood from head to foot, considering that it will bring them good luck.

The native Africans have never been known to tame or utilize the elephant: though, in what is known as the fly country, they are the only animals perfectly free from attack, and would be of the greatest value, and a great saving of life, as it is estimated that every tusk that comes out from the interior of Africa, causes the death of at least one slave or native.

That the African elephant was hunted in very early times, is very evident. On an Egyptian tomb at Qournah, of the time of Thothmes III., there is a representation of the elephant, telling the story of the tribute brought by the people of the upper Euphrates to that prince in 1500 B.C. The celebrated black obelisk (now in the collection of the British Museum) of Shalmaneser II. (858-823 B.C.) bears a delineation of an elephant which formed part of a tribute brought by the Muzri, a people of Kurdistan at the head waters of the Tigris, to the Assyrian monarch. The human figures on the stone are shown bearing elephants’ tusks upon their shoulders.

These inscriptions and figures, while they may be considered a part of the adornment of obelisks and tombs, are, in reality, the historical records of the time; and the representations of the elephant are often of value in showing its geographical distribution in former times. Thus, according to the stele of Amenemheb, an officer of the time of Thothmes III. and Amenophis II., translated by M. Chabas, the elephant was hunted near Nineveh, in the reign of Thothmes III.; and that there were found in great numbers, is shown by the statement, that the king “captured one hundred and twenty elephants for the sake of their tusks in the country of Nineveh.” Later than this, according to an Assyrian inscription on the prism of Tiglath-pileser I. (1120 B.C.), now in London, the elephant was hunted on the Tigris. The account translated reads, “I killed ten full-grown elephants in the country of Harran; and on the banks of the Khabour [an affluent of the Tigris], I captured four elephants alive. I brought their skins and their tusks, with the living elephants, to my city of Alassar” [Asshur].