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Elands are still found. Here and in Portuguese West Africa, however, they are striped. North of the Botletli River, and in Matabeleland, Mashonaland, and Portuguese South-East Africa, the striped variety of Eland is still to be found, occasionally in fair troops. Thence into Africa, as far north as Senegambia on the West and British East Africa on the East, the striped Eland in two forms, the common and the Derbian, is to be found.

Of all African beasts of chase the Eland is the most readily killed. In South Africa, where game can be hunted on horseback, nothing is easier than to ride into a troop and turn out and shoot the fattest and most desirable specimen. Occasionally the Eland can be driven right up to the hunter's wagon and slain there. The Eland has no defensive powers whatever. Sometimes, however, in more hilly country, or where the animals are in low condition, the cows will give some trouble to catch, even to the mounted man. As a rule the hunter can, after five or ten minutes gallop, ride right up to his quarry and shoot it without trouble from the saddle. Such is the writer's own experience. When thoroughly blown, the Eland breaks from its gallop into a slinging trot, and the hunter may then easily know that the game is his. A 400 or 350 sporting rifle, a 303, or a Mannlicher, or, indeed, any handy rifle, is sufficient to bring down an Eland, which is one of the softest and most easily killed of African game. In East Africa the Eland is principally stalked on foot, or driven by native beaters in the direction in which the sportsman lies concealed. The head of an Eland, especially of a good bull, forms an admirable trophy; yet these noble creatures are so easily shot, and are vanishing so rapidly, that the hunter may well content himself with a few good specimens.

At the present day in South Africa the Eland is seldom encountered in wide open plains. It frequents by preference moderately bushed country or thin forest. In East Africa, however, it is still to be found on the open plains.

H. A. BRYDEN.

ELEPHANT. - AFRICA (Elephas africanus). Size and Measurements.- Though somewhat less in bulk and stature than either the Mastodon or the Mammoth -its vanished prototypes of prehistoric times the African elephant is to-day the mightiest beast which yet exists upon our planet; and although we have unfortunately but scant data to go upon regarding the maximum size ever attained by the largest males of the species, and the average height certainly varies in different parts of Africa, I think I shall not be far wrong in saying that to the south of the Zambesi the standing height at the shoulder of full-grown bull elephants is usually from IO ft. to IO ft. 6 in., whilst, according to the most reliable authorities, these animals in Uganda and other parts of Central Africa attain a height of from IO ft. 9 in. to II ft. 3 in.

Of five ordinary full-grown South African bull elephants, whose standing height I carefully measured by taking the distance in a straight line between two poles placed exactly parallel to one another and fixed upright in the ground, the one at the sole of the forefoot, and the other at the top of the shoulder of the dead animal, one stood 9 ft. II in., two exactly IO ft., one IO ft. 4 in., and one IO ft. 6 in.

But, just as in India some few elephants are known to have much exceeded the ordinary dimensions of the species, so also in Africa it may be supposed that animals occur from time to time of exceptional stature. The late William Cotton Oswell, in the account of his African hunting experiences contained in the volume on Biggame Shooting of the Badminton Library. [ELEPHANT says, "I have seen thousands of elephants, and shot the largest one I ever saw. I measured him, and he was 12 ft. 2 in."

I have also heard of other measurements of well over eleven feet taken by reliable men. Such exceptional animals must, I fancy, have always been very rare in South Africa, for although in the earlier years of my hunting career I saw a large number of full-grown bull elephants in the aggregate, I never remember to have seen any one which towered above its fellows. My conclusion, therefore, is that although giants of the race undoubtedly occur, they are very exceptional, and that, speaking generally, the vertical standing height at the shoulder of the male elephant in South Africa may be taken to be from IO ft. to IO ft. 6 in., and in Central Africa from IO ft. 9 in. to II ft. 3 in.

Tusks. The size of the tusks in the African elephant varies very greatly, and is no criterion as to the stature of the animal. In the southern part of that continent a full-grown bull will seldom carry tusks weighing less than thirty pounds apiece, whilst tusks of over sixty pounds weight have, in my experience, always been exceptional. Thus, amongst considerably more than one hundred bull elephants which were shot in 1873 in the country between Matabeleland and the Zambesi River, there were only two animals whose tusks weighed over eighty pounds each, and not more than fifteen which weighed over sixty pounds.

In portions of Central and Eastern Africa the average size and weight of elephant tusks is far greater than in the countries to the south of the Zambesi River. The largest tusk known is now in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. It was brought from Central Africa to Zanzibar, and measures IO ft. 2 in. in length, 24 in. in circumference at the thickest part, and weighs 228 pounds, now that it is thoroughly dried out, so that when freshly taken from the skull of the mighty beast which carried it, it must probably have weighed nearly 250 pounds.

The largest tusk I have ever heard of in Southern Africa was bought by a Boer hunter, named Bernhard Bauer, from the natives near Lake N'gami, in 1873, I think.

It was weighed in the presence of many people at the store of Messrs. Francis and Clark, traders in old Soshong, the former capital of Khama's country, and turned the scale at 174 pounds. What became of this remarkable tusk I have never heard. An elephant carrying a magnificent pair of tusks was killed in Matabeleland within seventy miles of the present township of Bulawayo, ELEPHANT] three or four years before my first visit to the country. Late one evening a young Boer hunter, named Potgieter, came across some elephant bulls in the thick bush between the Vungo and Gwelo rivers.

Amongst them was an animal with tusks which protruded many feet from its head, and seemed almost to touch the ground.

This elephant was severely wounded by young Potgieter, but, thanks to the thickness of the bush and the fast gathering darkness, it made its escape for the time being, only to die, however, shortly afterwards. The carcase was ultimately found by a native hunter, named Zwartboy, by whom the tusks were sold to a trader in Bulawayo. They were a very perfect pair, measuring over nine feet in length, and weighing upwards Auldwell 897 HEAD OF AFRICAN ELEPHANT. of 150 pounds each. Another very similar pair were bought from Umzila, the King of the Gaza Zulus, by Mr. Reuben Benningfield in 1874. This pair I saw myself in Durban in March, 1875. They were nearly nine feet in length measured over the curve, were a perfect pair, and together weighed just over 300 pounds. The late Mr.

William Cotton Oswell also shot an elephant on the Botletli River about the year 1845 with tusks weighing between 230 and 240 pounds the pair. Since the opening up of Central Africa, however, to travellers and sportsmen, many elephants have been shot by Europeans with much larger tusks than this, the finest pair of all having been obtained by Major P. H. G. Powell Cotton, which weighed 198 pounds and 178 pounds respectively, and are the heaviest pair of tusks ever taken from the head of an elephant shot by a white man. Personally I have been very unlucky in coming across elephants with abnormally large tusks, the largest pair I ever secured of my own shooting only weighing 166 pounds the pair, and I never saw larger tusks in the head of a living elephant. or In Africa, as is well known, female elephants as a rule carry tusks as well as the males. Ten to twelve pounds in South Africa is the average weight of the tusk of a full-grown elephant cow, and although a weight of fifteen sixteen pounds is not uncommon, anything over twenty pounds is exceptionally fine. I once saw the tusks of a cow elephant shot in Matabeleland, one of which weighed thirty-nine pounds, and the other nearly as much. One of these tusks showed signs of having lain on the ground for a considerable time, as in one part the enamel was much dried and cracked, proving that the animal which once bore them had been found dead, having probably escaped from her pursuers when first wounded, only to die subsequently from her injuries. These abnormal cow tusks were about six feet in length, nearly straight, and almost solid, the hollows at their bases being singularly small. No one with any knowledge of elephant tusks could possibly have mistaken them for those of a male. Speaking generally, I should think that on the average the tusks of a full-grown African bull elephant weigh about four times as much as those of a full-grown cow, and I look upon a cow tusk weighing thirty-nine pounds as being as great a rarity as the largest bull tusk now in existence.

Amongst African elephants, tuskless animals of either sex are rare, though much more so amongst the bulls than the cows.

Indeed, I only remember to have seen one bull elephant without tusks, though in every herd one or more tuskless cows are to be met with. I have seen and shot both bulls and cows with only one tusk, and in such cases have found the bone on the other side quite solid, and without any kind of rudimentary hollow where the missing tusk ought to have been set.

Habitat. At the present day in South Africa the elephant has ceased to exist in many parts of the country where it was once plentiful. In the Cape Colony it would in all probability have long since become extinct, had it not been strictly protected for many years by the Government. Thanks to this protection, wild elephants still roam the forests of the Knysma and the waste lands of the Addo bush in considerable and ever-increasing numbers, but save for these small remnants of a mighty host, not another individual of their race is M 2 to be found for many a hundred miles to the north and north-west. re- In the interior of Eastern South Africa, however, elephants are not quite such a thing of the past, and from the eastern borders of the Transvaal to the Zambesi they may still be found in districts where the country is uninhabited or very thinly peopled, and where at the same time the surroundings are suitable to their quirements. Through all the enormous expanse of low-lying forest-clad country, also, which lies between the habitable parts of Rhodesia and the Zambesi, to the east of the Victoria Falls, elephants still roam; but so cautious have these animals become, and so vast is the territory over which they perpetually wander, that they are very difficult to find.

Three things have saved the wild, unprotected elephant in Southern Africa from extinction. These are the extraordinary development of its sense of smell, its power of walking enormous distances without rest, and the vast extent of the country over which it can travel after having been disturbed. I can illustrate all three points. Many years ago-in 1872-I was hunting elephants in company with an experienced Hottentot hunter in the forest country to the north of Matabeleland. One day we were ascending a small isolated hill in order to get a view over the surrounding country, when my companion espied a herd of elephants, and at once directed my attention to them. They were advancing rapidly through the forest in a long straggling line, and were heading in a direction that would have taken them across the line of march by which we had come to the hill. As soon as the old hunter at my side realised this fact, which he did at a glance, he said to me, "We must descend the hill at once and cut off the elephants before they reach our spoor, or they will assuredly scent it and take alarm." We therefore scrambled down the hill and ran back through the open forest as quickly as possible in the direction from which we had come. We were in time to intercept the elephants just as the foremost, an old cow, reached the line along which our feet had come in contact with the earth. I saw her stop dead and scent the ground rapidly with her outstretched trunk, the point of which was moved quickly to and fro close to the ground. That brief examination was sufficient, her delicate sense of smell having evidently conveyed to her brain the information that human beings, the dreaded enemies of her race, had lately passed that way, and might therefore still be near her. How she conveyed the [ELEPHANT information to her companions I do not know, but in another moment the whole herd had swung round, and were making off at a shambling trot in the opposite direction. Then followed a long and exhausting chase in the intense heat of an African sun, which, however, resulted in the death of several elephants.

On another occasion I remember following four enormous bulls which had come to drink one night in a lagoon formed by the overflow of the river Chobi. We took up the tracks at the first dawn of day, the elephants being not far ahead of us, and were in momentary expectation of coming up with them, when we suddenly found that they had become alarmed and had fled.

An examination of the ground showed us that they had turned short round on reaching the track we had made when approaching the river on the previous day with a long retinue of Kaffirs. Their keenness of scent had at once enabled them to detect the taint left on the ground by human feet which had passed that way some twenty hours before, and, as we never caught them up, was the means of saving them for that day at least from the attentions of an elephant gun.

In the year 1885, some five years before the occupation of Mashonaland by Mr.

Rhodes's pioneers, I was camped on the banks of the Umfuli river in company with a well-known Boer hunter, Cornelis van Rooyen. We had returned to camp after a good day's buffalo hunting, when two of the Kaffirs we had left at the carcase of one of the buffaloes reported that a herd of elephants had passed through the bush within sight of them, just as it was growing dusk. As the wind was favourable, they did not think the keen-scented animals had become aware of their presence, or taken alarm in any way, so we determined to follow them up the following day.

The next morning, therefore, at earliest dawn, we rode out and cut their spoor some two miles beyond the spot where the Kaffirs had seen them the preceding evening, and a glance at the tracks showed us that they had still been walking quietly here, and had evidently not scented any of the dead buffaloes. The elephants had a long start of about ten hours in front of us; but as they had been feeding to some extent, stripping a tree here and there of its bark, sometimes breaking off large branches, and even stopping now and then to dig up some succulent root, it looked as if they were altogether unsuspicious of danger, and might therefore be expected to halt as soon as the sun became uncomfortably warm, in order to enjoy a midday siesta in a shady spot, as ELEPHANT] lazy, sober-minded elephants always do in parts of the country where they have not been much hunted. There was, amongst the great round and oblong tracks of some twenty large elephants, the spoor of a tiny calf that could not have been many days old, and the fact that so young an animal was amongst the herd made us feel sure that we should come up with them in the course of the day; for we did not think such a baby elephant would be capable of travelling any very great distance without resting. We soon learned, too, by a careful examination of the ground, that two bulls were with the herd, the one evidently an animal of the largest size, whilst the second was consider- AFRICAN ELEPHANT. ably smaller, but yet might be expected to carry tusks of about 20 to 25 lbs. weight each. The big bull, we feared, would prove to be a tuskless elephant, which both Van Rooyen and myself had lately seen in this district, the animal I have before mentioned as the only tuskless bull elephant I have ever seen.

We had ridden out from camp accompanied by some half-dozen Kaffirs and a Masarwa Bushman. The former were Matabele and Mashunas, and were very much like any other ordinary specimens of their race, but the latter was one of the most sagacious hunters I have ever met even amongst men of his own wild race, and, although considerably past the prime of life, he was simply unsurpassable as a tracker and runner. It was, I should say, about 5.30 A.M. when old Marman the Bushman took up the spoor, and we stuck to it at a very fast walk till about 3 P.M., only twice taking the saddles off the horses for a few minutes at a time to ease their backs and allow them to stale.

By this time all the Kaffirs were very much fagged, as the heat of the sun had been intense for the last five hours, and when we saddled up our horses for the third time and old Marman announced his intention of running on the spoor, we told them to take a rest and follow quietly on the tracks of our horses. Old Marman now commenced to run, and in all my life I have never seen a more marvellous feat of endurance. He would run a mile at a good sharp trot, then walk very fast for a quarter or half a mile, then run again; and so he kept on for mile after mile and hour after hour. At length the burning sun sank from view, but still the elephants were far ahead of us, and still old Marman trotted doggedly on their tracks.

Soon after this time we came to where the elephants had rested during the fiercest heat of the day, possibly from two till four, and as on again moving they had scattered and commenced to feed in real earnest, breaking down trees and digging up roots in all directions, we might yet have come up with them had we been in a part of the world where the twilight is long drawn out.

But within the tropics, some 20 degrees south of the equator, once the sun has set, night comes on apace. Nor could old Marman run without a check on the tracks of a herd of elephants that had now scattered about, thinking of nothing but appeasing their hunger, in the same way as he had done before when they kept travelling straight ahead, only breaking off branches occasionally and chewing them as they marched along. Darkness, therefore, soon forced us to abandon the pursuit till the following morning.

During the thirteen hours we had been on the elephants' tracks I think we could not have covered less than fifty miles, as old Marman must have run nearly, if not quite, twenty after three o'clock, and allowing over an hour for the time lost while the horses were offsaddled, we had then already done about eight hours' very fast walking since first taking up the spoor in the early morning. The elephants had had twenty-four hours in which to accomplish this distance, but as they apparently had no particular cause for so long a journey, and were moreover accompanied by a very young calf, it would appear as if this were only their normal rate of travel during the twenty-four hours.

Even in districts where elephants have been but little molested, their tracks will often have to be followed for many hours before they can be overtaken, and where they have been constantly persecuted for many years, as is the case all over Matabeleland and Mashonaland, they never seem to rest for more than a short time during the hottest portion of the day, but keep constantly moving forward, feeding as they walk. They do not confine themselves to any particular district, but roam over the whole of the enormous areas of uninhabited wilderness of which they were once the undisputed masters, but in which they are now never safe from the attacks of ivory hunters.

To return to the narrative of our pursuit, when it became so dark that we could no longer follow their tracks, we decided to pass the night at the nearest stream, and then take up the spoor again in the morning.

Luckily, in this part of the country water was very plentiful, as we were in the midst of the many small streams which, rising on the northern face of Intaba Insimbi (the Hill of Iron), run down into the Umzweswe river. We soon reached one of these, a little rill of beautifully clear water, flowing down an open glade, carpeted with a short, succulent, red-seeded grass, which, springing up at the hottest time of year, affords excellent pasturage for horses and cattle, and which I have never seen anywhere else but in the upland valleys of Rhodesia. As our horses had had no food at all during the day, we hobbled them and turned them loose, having first collected a large quantity of dry wood and kindled two large fires, one on each side of the little glade. This we did in order to scare away lions, and then, allowing the old Bushman to get a little wellearned sleep, Van Rooyen and I kept up the fires, and from time to time turned the horses whenever they strayed into the darkness. We had eaten nothing since the previous evening, nor had we brought any food with us; but to go a day without food and pass the night without a blanket is not looked upon as any very great hardship by an elephant hunter, and we should have felt quite happy had we been sure of overtaking our game on the morrow. Neither of us, I think, expected to do so, as the calf, on whose weakness we had reckoned to delay his seniors, was evidently a very strong little animal, and, moreover, when day dawned, the elephants would again have had the whole night during which to increase their lead. However, we determined to follow them for another day and trust to fortune.

About midnight we tied the horses to a tree close behind one of our fires, and then lying down with our backs to the blaze, got what rest we could before daylight. As [ELEPHANT soon as we could see we saddled up, and once more took up the spoor of the elephants, which old Marman followed at a more sober pace than on the preceding evening, though he still got over the ground at a good sharp walk. For mile after mile we stuck to it, and with every mile the chance of ever overtaking them seemed to grow smaller. We had twice offsaddled the horses and were thinking of doing so for the third time. The cool of early dawn had gradually given place to a temperature which, culminating when the sun was at its zenith, seemed at length about to become more bearable, as the glowing orb was now dipping towards the west. And yet the elephants seemed further away from us than ever. Their dung, and the leaves of the branches which had been broken off and lay scattered on their track, were getting drier and drier, and I do not believe that at three in the afternoon of this second day of the pursuit we had yet reached the spot where they had passed at daybreak.

Suddenly old Marman stopped as we came to some tracks crossing the spoor we we were following at right angles. After a quick, eager examination he said in the Matabele language, "Their familiar spirits (amaglosi) have deserted them," and then told us that the animals we were following were not far in front of us, as they had recrossed their own tracks but a short time ago. We soon satisfied ourselves that it was the same troop of elephants by noting that the footprints of the little calf and the big bull were amongst the fresh tracks.

Shortly after this we came up with the animals themselves in some very thick bush, and shot the two bulls, the biggest proving to be a tusker with teeth weighing slightly over 40 lbs. each, while the tusks of the smaller bull did not weigh quite 40 lbs. the pair. The Kaffirs we had left behind the previous day turned up, contrary to our expectation, before dark, and that night, after a forty-eight hours' fast, we all had a glorious meal of elephant's heart and trunk.

The next day we chopped out the tusks and reached our camp on the Umfuli on the evening of the fourth day after we had left it. We should, however, never have overtaken these elephants had they not made a turn and recrossed their own spoor, unfortunately for them, just in front of us, for I believe that they had travelled just as far during the last day and night as they had done in the course of the previous twenty-four hours, and judging from my own experience on the foregoing and many other occasions, I am of opinion that when elephants have been much persecuted they ELEPHANT] travel continually during the whole year at the rate of from twenty to fifty miles every twenty-four hours.

Habits. The South African elephant, unlike any other animal with which I am acquainted, never, or at any rate very rarely, lies down to rest, though he will roll in mud or rub himself against the side of an antheap.¹ I make this statement advisedly, as I have seen altogether some thousands of elephants sleeping, but all have been standing, nor have I ever seen even the impression on the ground where one has been certain 12-bore Westley Richards rifle used the year before in the thorn jungles of the Linquasi district by an English hunter- Mr. Spencer Drake. The distance as the crow flies between the spot where this elephant was wounded in 1877, and where it was killed in 1878, is approximately some 250 miles.

I have seen it stated that in Africa fullgrown bull elephants are never found in company with cows, and as Dr. Livingstone has said that a picture representing bull and cow elephants mixed would at once stamp HERD OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS. reposing. At night elephants travel and feed, taking their rest during the hottest hours of the day, at which time they stand in the shade of large trees, or in the recesses of the wait-a-bit thorn jungles for which they have such a strong predilection.

In proof of the assertion I have made that in South Africa elephants wander over enormous tracts of country, I will adduce the fact that in 1878 some friends of mine cut a bullet out of an elephant killed in Eastern Mashonaland that had been fired into it the year before, a long way to the west of the Gwai river. There was no mistaking the bullet, as it had retained its shape and the marks of the grooving perfectly, and could only have been fired out of a 1 In the interior of South Africa ant-heaps are sometimes 20 ft. in height.

Acknowledged by the courtesy of R. Lydekker, Esq. the artist who painted it as unfamiliar with the habits of the animals he depicted, the mixing of the sexes must be unusual, as the good doctor was a very careful observer, and few men have had better opportunities of observing the African elephant in its wild state. Nevertheless, I have seen a good many exceptions to the rule, but such changes of habit may have been caused to a considerable extent by constant persecution, which would result in the breaking up of the small troops of bulls, until possibly single animals were left wandering alone, which were ready to consort with any others of their kind they happened to meet. On more than one occasion I have seen a small herd of bull elephants standing asleep close to a large number of cows, but in such cases the bulls were all together and not mixed with the females.

Native Methods of Hunting. -In South Africa, before the natives became possessed of firearms, the elephant was killed in various ways. Sometimes he was caught in a pitfall, though probably few but young and half-grown animals were the victims, and sometimes his death was compassed with heavy assegais, which were driven deep down between his shoulder blades by a savage seated in a tree waiting on his line of march. These long, broad-bladed assegais were fixed into heavy shafts, the weight of which worked them gradually into the vitals of the wounded animal.

In the country lying between Matabeleland and the Zambesi, even in my time, elephants were first hamstrung whilst standing asleep, by a blow from a thin, sharp, broad-bladed axe, which severed the "tendo Achillis," and then done to death with assegais. If the "tendo Achillis" was cut through, the poor brute was at the mercy of his assailants, being almost unable to move, but if the blow failed or was only partially successful, he was able to make good his escape, and in 1872 and 1873 I shot several elephants that had been wounded by blows dealt with axes in the endeavour to sever the "tendo Achillis," and in some cases found the wounds still unhealed and sloughing.

By Europeans elephants are, or rather have been, hunted (for I think there are now no professional elephant hunters left south of the Zambesi) both on foot and horseback. There is a considerable element of danger in either form of the sport, as, although elephants are in one way the most timid of animals, and will not allow a human being to approach them if they can possibly get out of his way, yet when interfered with, and when they discover that escape is hopeless, they are liable to become excessively vicious. Personally I rank the elephant as a more vicious animal than the buffalo; that is to say, taking an average of the considerable number of both animals I have shot, I have been charged by a larger proportion of elephants than of buffaloes.

As I have said, elephant hunting as a business has now become a thing of the past in South Africa, for the game is no longer worth the candle. In the years 1872, 1873, and 1874, however, although I had to do an immense amount of hard work, I found it easy enough to pay all my expenses by elephant hunting in the country to the north and north-west of Matabeleland. During that period I hunted entirely on foot, using the commonest of old muzzle-loading trade guns, and cheap powder that was sold to the natives in 5lb. bags. My bag for the [ELEPHANT three years was seventy-eight elephants, but I cannot help thinking that had I then possessed a good breech-loading rifle I might have killed at least double that number.

Like everyone else who has shot many elephants on foot, I have had some narrow escapes, and have owed my life many times to the fact that the African elephant can almost invariably be stopped in full charge by a shot in any part of the head or chest, ev even though the wound inflicted may not be mortal. When an African elephant charges he raises his head and spreads his enormous ears like two sails. When he first rushes out he often raises his trunk high in the air, trumpeting loudly the while.

But such a demonstration is, I think, usually only meant to frighten his enemies, and he is not likely to come far with his trunk upraised before turning round and rejoining the herd. But when an elephant really means comes on to charge home, he (usually, at any rate) with his trunk held down between his tusks, and the point curled in towards his chest, keeping up a succession of short, sharp screams of rage all the time. It is useless then to try to kill him with a shot in the front of the head, as the angle at which his head is held makes it impossible for a bullet fired from the shoulder of the man he is charging, who is standing perhaps some twenty yards in front of him, to reach his brain (which lies low down in the back of the skull), without first passing through some 2ft. of trunk and a great deal of bone. The best shot under such circumstances is right through the trunk into the chest, as a powerful rifle or smooth bore gun will drive a bullet right through an elephant's trunk and then reach his heart. I have killed several in this way, and have hit many others in the head, trunk, or chest on the side of the trunk when they were charging, but without exception every one, as soon as he was struck, immediately stopped screaming, and swerved off to one side. Once I remember I was charged by an elephant bull which I had wounded with a 450 bore Metford rifle by Gibbs, of Bristol. As he came on, I wondered whether the comparatively small bullet would stop him, as it would have been all up with me had it not done so. He was screaming loudly, but immediately the little bullet struck him in the chest he swerved off and became silent, and I killed him with another shot.

Hunting on Horseback.

Elephanthunting on horseback is very much pleasanter and infinitely less fatiguing than the same pursuit on foot, and, given a thoroughly trained horse and fairly open ELEPHANT] country to hunt in, there ought not to be much danger in the sport. But one cannot always have things one's own way, and, as a matter of fact, when you do come up with elephants, your horse will usually be pretty tired, and your game will be encountered very probably in dense thorny jungle, through which a charging elephant can crash in an almost straight line, whilst a horse has to pick his way amongst the trees and bushes. Under such circumstances a horse, which in open ground, and when fairly fresh, could give an elephant forty yards out of a hundred and then beat him, may very easily be caught by his bulky pursuer; and many cases have come within my own knowledge where horses and their riders have been overtaken by elephants, sometimes with fatal results. I myself once had a marvellous escape, as my tired horse was run into and thrown down by a wounded cow elephant, from under whose body I extricated myself, unhurt indeed, but covered with blood that was streaming from a wound in her chest.

Weapon. I will now conclude this article with a few words as to the merits of various forms of rifles for elephantshooting. Probably 90 per cent. of the enormous number of elephants which used to be annually killed in Africa for the sake of their ivory, before the partition of that country amongst the nations of Europe, were shot by the natives with 12-bore muzzle-loading muskets, and in my own early elephant-hunting days in the 'seventies of the last century, nothing smaller than an 8-bore was considered suitable for elephant-hunting. In the year 1885 I found, however, as I have stated above, that I could kill elephants quite easily with a 450-bore black-powder rifle by Gibbs, of Bristol, which was, however, at that time considered to be a ridiculously small-bore weapon to use against these animals. Since that time smokeless nitro powders have superseded black powder, and small-bore rifles of immense power have rendered the old large-bore elephant guns, shooting spherical leaden bullets, entirely obsolete. Of late years great numbers of elephants have been killed by modern rifles of very small bore, carrying a solid nickelcovered projectile, and there can be no doubt that in the hands of an expert hunter these small-bore rifles are wonderfully effective. In a letter to the Field some years ago the late Mr. A. H. Neumann, a most experienced elephant-hunter, wrote: "I cannot say the exact number of elephants I have shot with the 303 rifle, as during the first part of my trip I was using a IO-bore as well, but I killed a good many with it (chiefly body shots); and, since I had the bad luck to get hurt by one, I have not dared to fire any other rifle for fear of the recoil, and then I killed five of my largest bulls, none of which were shot in the brain. I have killed several elephants with a single bullet through the heart; and though with such a tiny puncture a big bull takes often (though not always) a little longer to die than from a large wound, I have never had to follow one far that had received a good shot. I always used the military cartridge with solid nickelcovered bullet." Probably the very best rifles for elephant-shooting at the present day are the enormously powerful double 450- or '500-bore weapons which are made by all the best-known English gunmakers; but these rifles are so expensive that they are not within the reach of any but rich sportsmen, and, as there is ample evidence that many magazine rifles of smaller bore are very effective against elephants, I would recommend those who are not richly endowed with wealth to try a 405-bore Winchester, as it is a very cheap rifle, and has been found very effective against elephants and all other large African animals by several friends of my own.

F. C. SELOUS.

ELEPHANTS IN THE ADDO BUSH. - Not far from Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony, is the small station of Addo, situated on the outskirts of the bush, in which elephants have thrived for many years. There are probably about one hundred elephants left, sometimes to be found in one troop, but more often split up in two or three smaller troops; they wander about from end to end, apparently never leaving the bush, except to visit the adjoining farms, where they break up fences, and otherwise do a vast amount of damage.

The bush is extremely thick, and in places almost impassable, except by following the elephant-paths; there are no big trees, all being of about the same height as an elephant, thus affording him excellent cover, and food within easy reach.

Though there is a small river at the end of the bush, the elephants more often water at the few small vleis or water-holes, which are dotted here and there; at one or other of these vleis fresh spoor will often be found, and then the hard work commences.

Should it be last night's spoor, it will often be necessary to follow as much as twelve or even twenty miles through thick scrub before coming up with the troop. It is well to have a "boy" who thoroughly knows the bush, as he will often save many miles of weary walking; platelayers, also, and other workmen can often give information as to where the troop has lately been seen.

Elephants sometimes trek great distances through the night, but, unless disturbed, only sleep and feed, moving slowly through the day. Very few seem to lie down, and the greater number of the troop sleep standing.

This is perhaps advantageous to the hunter, as it affords a better opportunity of marking them down. It is most important to know roughly the relative positions of most of the elephants in a troop, for, should you walk into the middle of them, it is certain that some will wind you before you see them, and you will have little or no chance of a shot that day. Again, it is safer when shooting to choose an animal near the outside, for I have constantly seen, on the report of a rifle, the whole troop rush round and round in a circle, congregate, and then make off in a straight line, carrying everything before them. There would be little chance for the sportsman who was in the centre of that circle.

By climbing up trees, and patiently watching, you may gradually work your way towards the outsiders, keeping down wind; they are very difficult to see, owing to the nature of the bush, but generally the flap of an ear in the sunlight, or some other movement, will reveal their position.

Having settled on your animal, it is, as a rule, simple to get up to the very bush behind which he is sleeping or feeding: once there, you should seize the first opportunity offered, and shoot quickly. Should he make off, in two or three strides, he is hidden from view, and it is unlikely you will get another chance that day.

A little before midday is the best time to come up with them, as they are then mostly sleeping and easily approached; but towards evening it is more difficult, as they are beginning to get on the move.

During the day they are timid and will generally try to escape, though there are a few cases on record of men having been killed by elephants in the Addo Bush. In one of these cases two brothers (Dutchmen) were followed by their dog, who ran forward and worried the elephants until they at last turned and chased him straight back to his masters, who, as a last resource, got up trees a little distance apart: one of them sat there, and saw his brother dragged down and trampled to death.

At night they are supposed to be "Kings of the Forest," and people say that after sunset they will more often charge than not. [ELEPHANT I remember one evening coming up with a troop just at sundown, after having had a long and disappointing day. We determined to try to get a shot while there was yet light, and in our hurry walked straight up to a tree, behind which one was standing.

In a moment bang went the rifle on my right, for its owner had seen the head round the corner of the bush; almost simultaneously the other rifle rang out, and I then saw the elephant in the centre of the bush making straight for us. There was no time for careful aim, nor could I see her distinctly enough, so I fired at her point blank, and dived through a "wait-a-bit" thorn-bush, which stripped me of most of my clothing. She fell on the spot where we had been standing, but was up in a moment, and chased us for about half a mile, every now and again getting our wind and pressing us hard; it was too dark to try and tackle her again, and by this time the whole place was alive with the remainder of the troop. We were no doubt turned out of the bush that night, but then she was a cow elephant with her calf; and I think, had it been a bull, in all probability he would not have charged.

G. D. WHEELER.

INDIA (Elephas maximus).-Elephantshooting in India is now practically a thing of the past. Fifty years ago, in the southern part of the Peninsula, and especially along the Western Ghats in the Wynad, Malabar, Coimbatore, Madura, and Tinnevelly districts, wild elephants were so numerous and so troublesome to ryots and planters that the Government used to offer a reward for their destruction. In those days, therefore, it was not considered unsportsmanlike, as it would be now, to kill a female-although, of course, the male was more sought after by Europeans, for the sake of the trophy which his tusks afforded.

Native shikaris, as well as many Europeans, who were glad of the Government reward to help to pay their shooting expenses, killed females as well as males, and the wild elephant was driven back into the more remote parts of the forests, and no longer molested the cultivator. The Government then ceased to offer the reward, and afterwards passed an order forbidding the destruction of elephants, and formed establishments for their capture alive. Now no one is allowed to shoot elephants without a special permit. This must be obtained direct from the Government, and is, as a general rule, restricted to one tusker or to a well-known rogue which has been attacking men.

ELEPHANT] It is a noteworthy fact that whereas in Ceylon tuskers are exceedingly rare-the males, as a rule, being "makhnas" carrying short stumps only-every herd in India, just across the narrow straits of Manaar, included one or more tuskers. There are also numbers of solitary males, but are uncommon. Ceylon elephants form a distinct race. In the northern part of British Burma, where elephants are numerous, I believe that no very hard and fast rule has been made against shooting them, and that permission to do so is readily obtained from the local civil authorities, and in the Native Valdwell 1897 HEAD OF INDIAN ELEPHANT. a States of Travancore, Cochin, and Mysore permission to shoot a tusker may be obtained from the Maharajas, through the influence of the British Resident.

Before attempting to shoot an elephant, it is wise to make a careful study of the head of a tame one in order to understand how a vital shot may be placed in the brain.

It is well also to study a skull in some museum.

The head of the Asiatic elephant differs considerably in form from that of the African; so, of course, it is the head of the former which must be studied. To kill the animal stone-dead with one ball the brain must be reached. It lies far back in the head, exactly between the orifices of the ears.

Supposing that a rod be passed in at one ear and out of the other, it would go right through the brain. It should be borne in mind that in order to kill the animal your THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.AZスエ ball must cut the middle of this imaginary rod. How to do this from various angles is the thing to be studied. with both eyes visible, and standing on the (1) If the animal be directly facing you, same level as yourself, or a little above you, plant your ball low in the rounded bump which is so conspicuous on an elephant's forehead just above the trunk. At that spot there is a convenient opening in the skull through which the bullet will pass, slightly upwards, direct to the brain. visible, but standing on a lower level than (2) If he be facing you, with both eyes yourself, plant your ball in the concavity of the forehead just above the rounded bump, and it will crash through the cancellated bone, of which an elephant's head is composed, and reach the brain. (3) If the animal be standing at threequarter face towards you, with only one eye visible, shoot into the hollow of the temple in a line between the eye and the orifice of the ear at such an angle that the bullet may cut the middle of the imaginary rod passed through the ears. (4) If he be standing exactly broadside on to you, shoot straight into the orifice of the ear. (5) If he be standing with his head three-quarters turned away from you, so that you can still see one eye, shoot behind the ear, when he flaps it forward, at the level of the orifice. The ball will go forward into the brain. If his head be so much turned away that you cannot see his eye, do not fire, because if you aim behind the ear the ball will go too much forward and miss the brain. (6) To get as close as you possibly can is a golden rule. At twenty yards, or less, you are sure of hitting the exact spot at which you aim, and, moreover, at such close inflicted will confuse the elephant so much quarters the report, flash, and heavy blow that you are really safer than you would be at a greater distance. In case of failure, he is nearly sure to turn tail.

It is unwise for a novice to approach less jungle. A convenient tree, behind elephants in high grass or in thick treewhich you can dodge in case of a charge, is a wonderful steadier for the nerves.

Elephants can be killed by shooting them behind the shoulder, and this is usually done in Africa, where they are found more in the open, and can be followed, fired at more than once, and kept in sight; but as in the head, he may run for miles without an elephant hardly ever falls unless shot stopping. In the dense jungle, in which they are usually found in India, you can seldom get more than one shot, and it is very difficult to track a wounded one, as his trail will probably cross and recross those of others and be lost. The shoulder shot should therefore never be tried. I have heard of its being attempted, but I know of only one instance of the elephant falling dead. ex- I still place great faith in the smooth bore gun and the spherical bullet for elephant-shooting-an explosive or panding ball is unsuitable; a round one gives a heavy blow and, if hardened, has great penetration. It is, I believe, not so liable as a conical one to be diverted from its course in going through the eighteen inches of thick skin, flesh, and bone which it must traverse on its way to the brain. I have shot elephants dead with one round ball, out of all sized guns from eight to sixteen bore; and I recommend Nos. IO or 12.

The gun should be strong in the breech, capable of carrying a good heavy charge of powder. The ball must be hardened. The best amalgam I know is one-third of block tin to two-thirds of lead, both by weight.

The proper sort of tin can be procured in any Indian bazaar; in Tamul it is called tutunagum; in Hindustani rupjas. In casting these bullets, the tin should be put into the ladle first, as it melts at a lower temperature than lead; the latter can then be added, and when all is melted it should be stirred with an iron rod before it is poured into the mould. The ball is very nearly as heavy as a leaden one, and exceedingly hard. I once shot a bull bison with a ball, thus hardened, out of a No. IO two-grooved rifle: it went through both shoulder blades, and seeing it sticking just under the skin on the other side I cut it out and, finding it perfectly good, used it to reload my right barrel. Shortly afterwards I walked unexpectedly up to within twenty yards of a sleeping tiger, and shot him through the head as he awoke and snarled at me. skinning him I again found the ball at the back of his ear. It had gone right through the hard skull, but was so little damaged that I could have used it again.

In The proper season for forest shooting in Southern India is during the rains-i.e., between July and December. The ground is then soft and moist, with no dry leaves lying about, so that one moves noiselessly through the jungle, and tracking is easier than when the ground is hard. The sportsman must be prepared to face a good deal of wet, but every now and then he will enjoy a week or ten days of a so-called "break in the monsoon," and then the southern forests are a very paradise-a [ELEPHANT pleasant, cool climate, beautiful, luxuriant vegetation, and plenty of shade. At that time of year the forests are considered healthy, but just at the beginning of the rains, as well as just after they have ceased, there is great risk of malarious fever; miasma hardly exists so long as the ground remains thoroughly saturated. After the monsoons are over, and the jungles are thoroughly dry, very heavy dews fall at night, when malaria is again prevalent, and accordingly the southern jungles should be then avoided. I believe it is just the reverse in the northern parts of India. The hot weather is safe and the rainy season unhealthy. At high elevations-5,000 to 7,000 feet, such as the Nilgiris, Palnis, Anamalies, and the Travancore hillsthere is no malarious fever. It is needless to say that dull-coloured clothes should be worn; khaki or mudcolour being the best. They should be of strong cotton material which will not tear readily in thorny or bamboo jungle. Jail cloth or workhouse sheeting, dyed brown, is the sort of thing, and very thin woollen vests and drawers can be worn underneath .

One very necessary article of clothing for the southern jungles needs description, namely, the "leech gaiter." Small and very voracious leeches abound in some places, which attack the legs and ankles.

Their bite is not only irritable and unpleasant, but is also very apt to fester. They will get through anything woollen, so the gaiter must be made of close cotton or linen material, shaped just like a fishing stocking, and worn over the scck and inside the boot or shoe, with a running string to tie tight beneath the knee. Above that, leeches are easily seen and can be brushed of. Several pairs of these gaiters should be taken, as they fray or tear, and a leech will find his way through the smallest hole. A light waterproof cape is necessary. Guncovers should be very loose, because the guns must be nearly always carried in them during the rains, and I know of nothing so irritating as tugging frantically at a tight cover while a bull bison or a deer is standing gazing at you within shot, and the camp in want of meat. on Avery light and portable kit is required for a trip into any of the remote forests where elephants, bison, &c., may be found. Everything must be carried men's heads or backs; so, if a tent be taken, it must be of the lightest description-one or two squares of waterproof sheeting will be a great comfort, and a good tente d'abri can be made with these on emergency.

Cooking utensils and food of all sorts must ELEPHANT] be taken, and as provisions for all the carriers and servants must be provided, the train of followers soon swells. It is very necessary to make definite arrangements before starting, through the district authorities, for supplies of rice, bread, fowls, curry, stuffs, salt, &c., to be sent to the camp from the nearest villages. The jungle people are clever at building grass or bamboo huts.

They are generally good trackers and indefatigable walkers, but they will seldom carry loads, and they require to be well fed and supplied with such luxuries as tobacco, betelbe found, but if not you must entrust yourself to a man who knows the forest well, and go out in search of a track. When one is found which is judged to be only a few hours old, it should be steadily followed until you hear or see the elephants. This following up of a track is interesting and exciting, but by no means so easy as may be supposed, as in an elephant-frequented jungle old and new tracks cross and recross each other; and after rain it requires experience to keep to the fresh one. The sound of breaking branches or bamboos, and AN ELEPHANT PLUNGING THROUGH THE JUNGLE. nut, salt, &c., and although they have to be paid for their services in money, they expect and appreciate presents of cloths, beads, knives, &c., as a reward for successful shoots. It is needless to say that these wild men must be kindly treated. Native servants are very apt to be rough and overbearing with them, and this should be carefully watched and deprecated-a blow from a servant may cause every one of the hill men to desert the camp with or without excuse.

Having arrived at your destination in the forest, and settled down in your camp, you may possibly get information from some of the neighbouring people that elephants have been seen or heard. They may then soon other signs, will generally give you timely notice when you are getting near, and then care must be taken to approach up-wind.

Elephants are accustomed to the noise of other animals moving in the forest, and are not very keen sighted, but their sense of smell is acute. If you have the wind, you may approach pretty close without fear of disturbing them, and if you are dealing with a herd, you may stand for any time behind a tree or bush, within fifty yards, and look them over in order to make out which is the tusker. When you have discovered him, if there be females or young ones between you and him, you must wait for your opportunity of getting within shot. It is not easy, at first, to refrain from firing a long shot on such occasions, but you must be patient if you wish to make sure of your tusker.

With a solitary elephant and these generally carry the finest tusks-much more care must be taken in approaching. He is always on the alert, and he will stop feeding and listen if he hears a twig break under your foot: if you or your followers then move he will probably catch sight of you; and if he be a rogue," he will charge-if not, he will hoist his tail and sail away through the jungle, carrying everything before him, and you will be lucky if you ever see him again, although you follow till dark. 66 If he should charge, it becomes a mere matter of nerve. An elephant, as a general [ELEPHANT I may be pardoned for concluding with an instance of the value of patience and steadiness under exciting circumstances. On one occasion I had got close up to elephants feeding in a thick brake of thorny mimosa, and while listening to their movements and waiting till I could get sight of them, I became aware that some of the herd were coming towards me. I was well concealed behind some bushes when the two leading elephants appeared and I saw that they were both tuskers, one following the other. They walked slowly past me within about twenty yards, and I was in the act of pulling trigger at the leading one when it flashed across me that, at the report of my gun, the other would see his friend fall and AN ELEPHANT KRAAL. rule, coils his trunk when he means mischief, and does not lift it in the air. He thus presents a capital front shot, and if you are cool and let him come near enough-say to within fifteen or twenty yards the odds are against the elephant.

Moreover, as I have already said, even if you do not kill him, the shot and the flash right in his face at such close quarters will generally confuse and turn him.

If an elephant should happen to charge with his trunk up, it covers the vulnerable spot, and the only thing to be done is to fire into his eye and step to one side. More than once I have had an elephant pass me so closely, under such circumstances, that I could have nearly touched him with my gun, but stopping and turning his head a few yards on, he has given me the chance of a shot behind his ear with the second barrel. might turn his tail to me, so I shifted my aim to him, with exactly the result I anticipated. He fell dead to my right barrel, and the other one, seeing nothing, but hearing the shot, wheeled round and gazed at his prostrate companion. He also at once fell to my second barrel, and the two lay dead with their trunks almost touching.

When an elephant is killed, his tusks, or, in the case of females, the pegs or tushes, may be cut out with an axe, a very laborious operation; or if the people around can be depended on, they may be left in the head for a week or so, till decomposition has taken place. They can then easily be drawn out.

The tip of the tail, which is more or less fringed with strong black bristles, like whalebone, may be cut off and dried, and makes a good memento. A capital foot- ELEPHANT] stool may be made with a fore-foot cut off at the first joint, and well cleaned out and dried.

Although natives of Southern India do not eat the flesh of the elephant, Burmese eat the flesh of the elephant, Burmese are fond of such food. Once I had two friends coming to my camp to shoot, and, being short of meat, I had the tail of an old tusker killed that day made into soup, and very good soup we thought it, but perhaps that was because we were very hungry!

The rest of an elephant's carcase is absolutely useless. J. MICHAEL. as ELEPHANT TRAPPING IN INDIA. -Hog-hunting is generally reckoned the most exciting and dangerous sport in India, but I am not sure that noosing and running down elephants is not more trying to the nerves of the hunter, more fatiguing, and more dangerous.

The best caste female elephants are trained exclusively for this work almost as soon as caught, and are carefully fed on grain to give them endurance and wind.

Only the fastest are retained as koonkies, from whose backs the wild ones are noosed, but one or two good tuskers are employed to act as " chuckers-out" if their services are required.

The equipment of a koonkie when arrayed for a hunt is as follows. A stout rope is passed twice round the body to act as a girth, then under the neck and tail like a breast-plate and crupper, and securely fastened close to the withers for the sling to be attached. The mahout, who guides the elephant and throws the noose, must be a plucky fellow, specially trained to the work, and of course he must be at home on the beast's bare back. He has an assistant, who has also been trained, and on whom he can depend, and whose business it is to keep the koonkie at full speed by striking it on a " raw" made on purpose near the root of the tail, and he has also to assist directly the lasso has been thrown and the wild elephant noosed. On falling in with a herd, the mahout singles out one, generally a goodlooking three-parts grown tusker, as they fetch the largest prices when broken; but, if no young male is present, a good female is selected. Occasionally a fullgrown tusker, or even a makhna, is snared; but they give a great deal of trouble to catch, and to rear afterwards, as very many, from their stubborn resistance, get so badly cut by the rope forming the noose, that by the rope forming the noose, that mortification sets in and destroys them. The large merchants who send out these hunters do not encourage the capture of any but half or three -quarter grown calves, but occasionof a high caste male, they forgive the transally, when they obtain a prize, in the shape gressors; yet, if their time has been wasted ployees are heavily fined. So soon as a in catching useless animals, all the emherd is sighted, the mahout on his koonkie selected, and endeavours to separate it from rushes at full speed after the animal the herd . The plain where the hunt takes scattered here and there, so that the inplace is covered with long grass, with trees equalities of the surface cannot be seen.

One moment it seems as if the elephant next that they must fall backwards. Whatand its riders must go heels-over-head , the tion of speed, and you must take the ever the dangers, there must be no diminuchances of breaking your own neck or of injuring your elephant. To bring your quarry to a standstill before it can recover its second wind, it must be pressed from condition of your elephant will enable you the very first, and the superior training and hour, perhaps longer, if you meet an excepto do this in half or three-quarters of an tionally fast antagonist. Unless your arms are muscular and well trained, and you hold on with the tenacity of a bulldog, you will soon be thrown off, and will see little or nothing of the chase and its results.

As soon as the wild elephant stops, the koonkie ranges alongside, and the mahout, who invariably stands up, holds on to a purpose with his left hand, whilst with his small rope fastened to the girth for that right he launches the lasso. The elephant, feeling the rope dangling about its face, curls up its trunk, and in so doing assists in its own capture, as the noose then slips koonkie now plants herself as firmly as under the neck and is drawn tight. The side opposite to her captive, with one foot possible, leaning her whole weight to the advanced to meet the struggles of the one breath and finding itself entangled, rushes ensnared , which, having recovered a little off with off with great violence, dragging the behind. But the noose tightens, the animal gets half suffocated, and has to the other side, a second noose is thrown, pull up; another koonkie then rushes along and the captive is safe. The two assistants then jump off and tether the feet of their prize, which they do in a few minutes, being most expert from long practice. The have of loosening the slip-knots and fastening now the dangerous task thick ropes round the necks of their victims ; but all engaged in this sport-men and beasts are so expert, that few or no accidents occur. Two or three tame elephants now close up and lavish attentions on the half-strangled captive, while the mahouts attach a small rope to one end of the noose so as to loosen it, which is often a matter of difficulty, for the ropes sometimes cut deep into the flesh and cannot easily be extracted. Directly this has been accomplished, the prisoner is placed between two tame elephants, and marched off to a selected spot, where it is temporarily tethered with other recruits. Thence it is [ELEPHANT Anarrow entrance is left, to be enclosed either by a portcullis or abattis, which is placed at the entrance after the herd lias been driven in.

From this entrance two strong fences are made in a V shape and carried to a considerable distance. If the herd once gets within this angle, and the beaters act vigorously together, it is not difficult to force the herd within the stockade. Every expedient is adopted to frighten the elephants, and to drive them forward; guns are fired, huge INDIAN ELEPHANTS LEAVING THE WATER. removed to a permanent camp, where it is broken in, and is generally fit for work in less than six months.

When a wild elephant is very violent, and proves too strong, the rope of the noose is cut, and it is allowed to go free. Now and then, but very rarely, a koonkie is overthrown, and her riders killed in these encounters. So many thus caught died, that the Government many years ago forbade this mode of hunting, but it is still carried on in the remoter localities .

There are two descriptions of keddas for the capture of wild elephants in common use. One is merely a ditch about nine feet deep, about the same breadth at top , but only a foot broad at bottom. The other a combination. Most keddas are constructed in forests where timber is plentiful. [Copyright by Underwood and Underwood. bonfires lighted, tom-toms beaten, cholerahorns blown; and amidst the yelling of the beaters, the trumpeting of the bulls, the bellowing of the cows in which the tame elephants join-an uproar is created sufficient to awaken the dead. Amid this over, whelming din a final exertion is made, the whole or the greater part of the herd is driven headlong into the kedda, and the entrance is closed, when the wild animals , seeking in vain an exit, and finding themselves entrapped, set to work and create a row, to which the previous one was as nothing. Every endeavour is made by the captives to pull down the sides of the stockade, but these are well guarded from the outside, and the elephants are everywhere repulsed either with sharp spears or by blazing torches thrust into their ELK] faces. The scene is grand and animating, and continues without intermission for hours. The wild animals, finding escape impossible, abandon hope, and resign themselves to their fate. The next day a party of picked koonkies and their attendants, the latter as naked as at the time of their birth, enter the stockade and surround a captive. The legs are tethered in moment, ropes as thick as hawsers are thrown round the neck; and the captured animals are removed one by one between two powerful elephants to some fixed spot where fodder and water are plentiful, and it is almost incredible how soon they become docile. a Although catching elephants in pitfalls is now forbidden in independent states and in our own remoter districts, hunters note the way elephants go to their feeding grounds, and dig pitfalls about nine feet deep, just sufficiently broad to hold the body of an elephant, and so narrow at the bottom that his feet are jammed. These pits they cover over with boughs, bamboos, &c., scatter leaves, grass, and fresh elephantdung over the surface, and dig other pitfalls at right angles and along all paths in the vicinity. were I went once with a party. It was a dark night, the men lay in wait, and when the elephants entered the pathway, and only a few yards from the first pit, the former created such a din by firing guns and rockets, lighting fires, beating tom-toms, and rushing with lighted torches towards the herd, that a panic took place.

The leader, a fine female, fell into the first pit; the others, on seeing her fate, scattered here and there, and, although there were perils in every direction, only three were caught.

In Upper Burma, in 1856, there were two enclosures close to the walls of Umrapoora.

Well-trained cow-elephants were let loose, which wandered into the jungles, allowed the males to make love to them, and then lured them into the enclosure. I was told that as many as twenty valuable males had thus been caught in one year. It cost nothing, as the females were let loose in the slack season, when not required for removing timber from the forest, and in almost every case they were found to be pregnant, and brought forth in due time.

F. T. POLLOK.

ELK (Alces machlis), Sweden and