Wild Beasts and Their Ways - Sir Samuel White Baker (best romantic novels in english txt) 📗

elephant moves the legs upon each side simultaneously, like the camel, it does not actually touch the ground with each foot upon the same side at exactly the same moment, but the fore foot touches the surface first, rapidly followed by the hind, and in both cases the heel is the first portion of the foot that reaches its destination. The effect may be seen in the feet of an elephant after some months' continual marching upon hard ground: the heels are worn thin and are quite polished, as though they had been worn down by the friction of sand-paper,-in fact, they are in the same condition as the heels of an old boot.

The Indian native princes do not admire the African elephant, as it combines many points which are objectionable to their peculiar ideas of elephantine proportions. According to their views, the hollow back of an African elephant would amount to a deformity. The first time that I ever saw a large male of that variety I was of the same opinion. I was hunting with the Hamran Arabs in a wild and uninhabited portion of Abyssinia, along the banks of the Settite river, which is the main stream of the Atbara, the chief affluent of the Nile.

As before stated, I have already published an account of these wonderful hunters in the Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, and it is sufficient to describe them as the most fearless and active followers of the chase, armed with no other weapon than the long, straight, two-edged Arab sword, with which they attack all animals, from the elephant and rhinoceros to the lion and buffalo. The sword is sharpened to the finest degree, and the blade is protected for about six inches above the cross-hilt with thick string, bound tightly round so as to afford a grip for the right hand, while the left grips the hilt in the usual manner. This converts the ordinary blade into a two-handed sword, a blow from which will sever a naked man into two halves if delivered at the waist. It may be imagined that a quick cut from such a formidable weapon will at once divide the hamstring of any animal. The usual method of attacking the elephant is as follows:-Three, or at the most four mounted hunters sally forth in quest of game. When the fresh tracks of elephants are discovered they are steadily followed up until the herd, or perhaps the single animal, is found. If a large male with valuable tusks, it is singled out and separated from the herd. The leading hunter follows the retreating elephant, accompanied by his companions in single file. After a close hunt, keeping within 10 yards of the game, a sudden halt becomes necessary, as the elephant turns quickly round and faces its pursuers.

The greatest coolness is required, as the animal, now thoroughly roused, is prepared to charge. The hunters separate to right and left, leaving the leader to face the elephant. After a few moments, during which the hunter insults the animal by shouting uncomplimentary remarks concerning the antecedents of its mother, and various personal allusions to imaginary members of the family, the elephant commences to back a half-dozen paces as a preliminary to a desperate onset. This is the well-known sign of the coming charge. A sharp shrill trumpet! and, with its enormous ears thrown forward, the great bull elephant rushes towards the apparently doomed horse. As quick as lightning the horse is turned, and a race commences along a course terribly in favour of the elephant, where deep ruts, thick tangled bush, and the branches of opposing trees obstruct both horse and rider. Everything now depends upon the sure-footedness of the horse and the cool dexterity of the rider. For the first 100 yards an elephant will follow at 20 miles an hour, which keeps the horse flying at top speed before it. The rider, even in this moment of great danger, looks behind him, and adapts his horse's pace so narrowly to that of his pursuer that the elephant's attention is wholly absorbed by the hope of overtaking the unhappy victim.

In the meantime, two hunters follow the elephant at full gallop; one seizes his companion's reins and secures the horse, while the rider springs to the ground with the same agility as a trained circus-rider, and with one dexterous blow of his flashing sword he divides the back sinew of the elephant's hind leg about 16 inches above the heel. The sword cuts to the bone. The elephant that was thundering forward at a headlong speed suddenly halts; the foot dislocates when the great weight of the animal presses upon it deprived of the supporting sinew. That one cut of the sharp blade, disables an animal which appeared invincible.

As the elephant moves both legs upon the same side simultaneously, the disabling of one leg entirely cripples all progress, and the creature becomes absolutely helpless. The hunter, having delivered his fatal stroke, springs nimbly upon one side to watch the effect, and then without difficulty he slashes the back sinew of the remaining leg, with the result that the animal bleeds to death. This is a cruel method, but it requires the utmost dexterity and daring on the part of the hunters, most of whom eventually fall victims to their gallantry.

I was accompanied by these splendid sword-hunters of the Hamran Arabs in 1861 during my exploration of the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia; and upon the first occasion that I was introduced to an African male elephant, the animal was standing at the point of a long sandbank which had during high water formed the bed of the river, where a sudden bend had hollowed out the inner side of the curve and thrown up a vast mass of sand upon the opposite shore. This bank was a succession of terraces, each about 4 feet high, formed at intervals during the changes in the level of the retreating stream. The elephant was standing partly in the water drinking, and quite 100 yards from the forest upon the bank. The huge dark mass upon the glaring surface of white sand stood out in bold relief and exhibited to perfection the form and proportions of the animal; but it was so unlike the Indian elephant of my long experience that I imagined some accident must have caused a deformity of the back, which was deeply hollowed, instead of being convex like the Asiatic species. I whispered this to my hunters, who did not seem to understand the remark; and they immediately dismounted, exclaiming that the loose sand was too deep for their horses, and they preferred to be on foot.

It was difficult to approach this elephant, as there was no cover whatever upon the large area of barren sand; the only method was to keep close to the level of the water below the terraces, as the head of the animal was partially turned away from us whilst drinking. I had a very ponderous single rifle weighing 22 lbs., which carried a conical shell of half a pound, with a charge of 16 drams of powder. The sand was so deep that any active movement would have been impossible with the load of so heavy a weapon; I therefore determined to take a shoulder shot should I be able to arrive unperceived within 50 yards. Stooping as low as possible, and occasionally lying down as the ever-swinging head moved towards us, we at length arrived at the spot which I had determined upon for the fatal shot. Just at that moment the elephant perceived us, but before he had made up his mind, I fired behind the shoulder, and as the smoke cleared, I distinctly saw the bullet-hole, with blood flowing from the wound. I think the elephant would have charged, but without a moment's hesitation my gallant Hamrans rushed towards him sword in hand in the hope of slashing his hamstring before he could reach the forest. This unexpected and determined onset decided the elephant to retreat, which he accomplished at such a pace, owing to the large surface of his feet upon the loose sand, that the active hunters were completely distanced, although they exerted themselves to the utmost in their attempts to overtake him.

The wound through the shoulder was fatal, and the elephant fell dead in thick thorny jungle, to which it had hurried as a secure retreat. This was a very large animal, but as I did not actually measure it, any guess at the real height would be misleading. As before noted, the measurement of the African elephant Jumbo, when sold by the Zoological Society of London, was 11 feet in height of shoulder, and 6 tons 10 cwts. nett when weighed before shipment at the docks. That animal might be accepted as a fair specimen, although it would be by no means unusual to see wild elephants which greatly exceed this size.

The peculiar shape of head renders a front shot almost impossible, and the danger of hunting the African elephant is greatly enhanced by this formation of the skull, which protects the brain and offers no defined point for aim.

I have never succeeded in killing a male African elephant by the forehead shot, although it is certainly fatal to the Asiatic variety if placed rather low, in the exact centre of the boss or projection above the trunk. Should an African elephant charge, there is no hope of killing the animal by a direct shot, and the only chance of safety for the hunter is the possession of good nerves and a powerful double-barrelled rifle, No. 8 or No. 4, with 14 drams of powder and a well-hardened bullet. The right-hand barrel will generally stop a charging elephant if the bullet is well placed very low, almost in the base of the trunk. Should this shot succeed in turning the animal, the left-hand barrel would be ready for a shot in the exact centre of the shoulder; after which, time must be allowed for the elephant to fall from internal haemorrhage.

There is no more fatal policy in hunting dangerous game than a contempt of the animal, exhibited by a selection of weapons of inferior calibre. Gunmakers in London of no practical experience, but who can only trust to the descriptions of those who have travelled in wild countries, cannot possibly be trusted as advisers. Common sense should be the guide, and surely it requires no extraordinary intelligence to understand that a big animal requires a big bullet, and that a big bullet requires a corresponding charge of powder, which necessitates a heavy rifle. If the hunter is not a Hercules, he cannot wield his club; but do not permit him to imagine that he can deliver the same knock-down blow with a lighter weapon, simply because he cannot use the heavier.

We lost only last year one of the most daring and excellent men, who was an excellent representative of the type which is embraced in the proud word "Englishman"--Mr. Ingram--who was killed by a wild female elephant in Somali-land, simply because he attacked the animal with a '450 rifle. Although he was mounted, the horse would not face some prickly aloes which surrounded it, and the elephant, badly but not really seriously wounded, was maddened by the attack, and, charging home, swept the unfortunate rider from his saddle and spitted him with her tusks.

This year (1889) we have to lament the death of another fine specimen of our countrymen, the Hon. Guy Dawnay, who has been killed by a wild buffalo in East Africa. The exact particulars will never be ascertained, but it appears that he was following through thick jungle a wounded buffalo, which suddenly turned and was not stopped by the rifle.

I cannot conceive anything more dangerous than the attack