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“The Elephant entertains an extraordinary horror of man, and a child can put a hundred of them to flight by passing at a quarter of a mile to windward; and when thus disturbed they go a long way before they halt. It is surprising how soon these sagacious animals are aware of the presence of a hunter in their domains. When one troop has been attacked, all the other Elephants frequenting the district are aware of the fact within two or three days, when they all forsake it, and migrate to distant parts, leaving the hunter no alternative but to inspan his wagons, and remove to fresh ground.

“This constitutes one of the greatest difficulties which a skilful Elephant-hunter encounters. Even in the most remote parts, which may be reckoned the head-quarters of the Elephant, it is only occasionally, and with inconceivable toil and hardship, that the eye of the hunter is cheered by the sight of one. Owing to habits peculiar to himself, the Elephant is more inaccessible and much more rarely seen than any other game quadruped, excepting certain rare Antelopes. They choose for their resort the most lonely and secluded depths of the forest, generally at a very great distance from the rivers and fountains at which they drink. In dry and warm weather they visit these waters nightly; but in cool and cloudy weather they drink only once every third or fourth day. About sundown the Elephant leaves his distant midday haunt, and commences his march towards the fountain, which is probably from twelve to twenty miles distant. This he generally reaches between the hours of nine and midnight, when, having slaked his thirst and cooled his body by spouting large volumes of water over his back with his trunk, he resumes the path to his forest solitudes. Having reached a secluded spot, I have remarked that full-grown bulls lie down on their broadsides about the hour of midnight and sleep for a few hours. The spot which they usually select is an ant-hill, and they lie around it with their backs resting against it. These hills, formed by the white Ants, are from thirty to forty feet in diameter at their base. The mark of the under tusk is always deeply imprinted in the ground, proving that they lie upon their sides. I never remarked that females had thus lain down, and it is only in the more secluded districts that the bulls adopt this practice; for I observed that, in districts where the Elephants were liable to frequent disturbance, they took repose standing on their legs beneath some shady tree. Having slept, they then proceed to feed extensively. Spreading out from one another, and proceeding in a zigzag course, they smash and destroy all the finest trees in the forest which happen to lie in their course. The number of goodly trees which a herd of bull Elephants will thus destroy is utterly incredible. They are extremely capricious, and on coming to a group of five or six trees they break down, not unfrequently, the whole of them, when, having perhaps only tasted one or two small branches, they pass on and continue their wanton work of destruction. I have repeatedly ridden through forests where the trees thus broken down lay so thick across one another that it was almost impossible to ride through the district; and it is in situations such as these that attacking the Elephant is attended with most danger. During the night they will feed in open plains and thickly-wooded districts, but as day dawns, they retire to the densest covers within reach, which nine times in ten are composed of the impracticable wait-a-bit thorns; and here they remain drawn up in a compact herd during the heat of the day. In remote districts, however, and in cool weather, I have known herds to continue pasturing throughout the whole day.”

The African Elephant is not now hunted for domestic purposes, but for the sake of the flesh and of the ivory; and its death is a grand affair for the natives, since it affords opportunity not merely for a feast, but for obtaining fat for internal and external uses. There are various methods of killing them. Pitfalls are most common, and are generally placed in the neighbourhood of a drinking-place, the natives showing great skill in felling trees, so as to turn the Elephants into them. According to Sir Samuel Baker, “the pits are usually about twelve feet long, and three feet broad, by nine deep; these are artfully made, decreasing towards the bottom to the breadth of a foot. The general Elephant route to the drinking-places being blocked up, the animals are diverted by a treacherous path towards the water, the route intersected by numerous pits, all of which are carefully concealed by sticks and straw, the latter being usually strewn with Elephants’ dung, to create a natural effect. Should an Elephant during the night fall through the deceitful surface, his foot becomes jammed in the bottom of the narrow grave, and he labours shoulder-deep, with two feet in the pitfall so fixed that extrication is impossible. Should one animal be thus caught, a sudden panic seizes the rest of the herd, and in their hasty retreat one or more are generally victims to the numerous pits in the vicinity. Once helpless in the pit, they are easily killed with lances.”

AGGAGEERS HUNTING AN ELEPHANT.

The same author also relates that sometimes the Elephant-hunters, or aggageers, of the Hamram tribe, use swords for killing Elephants. They follow the tracks of the animal, “so as to arrive at their game between the hours of 10 and 12 A.M., at which time it is either asleep or extremely listless, and easy to approach. Should they discover the animal asleep, one of the hunters would creep stealthily towards the head, and with one blow sever the trunk while stretched upon the ground; in which case the Elephant would start upon his feet, while the hunters escaped in the confusion of the moment. The trunk severed would cause a loss of blood sufficient to insure the death of the Elephant within about an hour. On the other hand, should the animal be awake upon their arrival, it would be impossible to approach the trunk. In such a case, they would creep up from behind, and give a tremendous cut at the back sinew of the hind leg, about a foot above the heel. Such a blow would disable the Elephant at once, and would render comparatively easy a second cut to the remaining leg. These were the methods adopted by poor hunters, until by the sale of ivory they could purchase Horses for the higher branch of the art. Provided with Horses, the party of hunters should not exceed four. They start before daybreak, and ride slowly throughout the country in search of Elephants, generally keeping along the course of a river until they come upon the tracks where a herd, or a single Elephant, may have drunk during the night. When once upon the track, they follow fast towards the retreating game. The Elephants may be twenty miles distant, but it matters little to the aggageers. At length they discover them, and the hunt begins. The first step is to single out the bull with the largest tusks; this is the commencement of the fight. After a short hunt, the Elephant turns upon his pursuers, who scatter and fly from his headlong charge until he gives up the pursuit; he at length turns to bay when again pressed by the hunters. It is the duty of one man in particular to ride up close to the head of the Elephant, and thus to absorb its attention upon himself. This insures a desperate charge. The greatest coolness and dexterity are then required by the hunter, who, now the hunted, must so adapt the speed of his Horse to the pace of the Elephant that the enraged beast gains in the race, until it almost reaches the tail of the Horse. In this manner the race continues. In the meantime, two hunters gallop up behind the Elephant, unseen by the animal, whose attention is completely directed to the Horse almost within his grasp. With extreme agility, when close to the heels of the Elephant, one of the hunters, while at full speed, springs to the ground with his drawn sword, as his companion seizes the bridle, and with one dexterous two-handed blow he severs the back sinew. He immediately jumps out of the way, and remounts his Horse; but if the blow is successful, the Elephant is hamstrung, and, as it cannot run rapidly on three legs, is easily killed.”

The Fans in the neighbourhood of the Gaboon settlements, according to Mr. Winwood Reade, are in the habit of employing the same mode of capturing Elephants as the natives of India, namely, by enticing them within an enclosure or fence of posts and rails, where they are afterwards killed with cross-bows, spears, and trade-guns.

Elephant shooting, although not unattended by danger, appears to be on the whole accomplished with considerable success, five or six Elephants having been killed occasionally in a very short space of time by one man; and many are the tales of hair-breadth escapes related to us by Gordon Cumming, Tennent, Baker, and others. But it appears the forehead-shot, so much in favour in shooting Indian Elephants, does not answer with the African species, the form of the head and the position of the tusks preventing the bullet from reaching the brain.

“The only successful forehead-shot,” says Sir S. Baker, “that I made at an African Elephant was shortly after my arrival in the Abyssinian territory, on the Settite River; this was in thick, thorny jungle, and an Elephant from the herd charged with such good intention that, had she not been stopped, she must have caught one of the party. When within about five yards of the muzzle of my rifle, I killed her dead by a forehead-shot with a hardened bullet, and we subsequently recovered the bullet in the vertebræ of the neck! This extraordinary penetration led me to suppose that I should always succeed as I had done in Ceylon, and I have frequently stood the charge of an African Elephant until close upon me, determined to give the forehead-shot a fair trial, but I have always failed, except in the instance now mentioned. It must be borne in mind that the Elephant was a female, with a head far inferior in size and solidity to that of the male. The temple-shot, and that behind the ear, are equally fatal in Africa as in Ceylon, provided the hunter can approach within ten or twelve yards; but altogether the hunting is far more difficult, as the character of the country does not admit of an approach sufficiently close to guarantee a successful shot. In the forests of Ceylon, an Elephant can be stalked to within a few paces, and the shot is seldom fired at a greater distance than ten yards. Thus accuracy of aim is insured; but in the open ground of Africa an Elephant can seldom be approached within fifty yards, and should he charge the hunter escape is most difficult. I never found African Elephants in good jungle, except once, and on that occasion I shot five quite as quickly as we should kill them in Ceylon.”