Had I Not Been Previously Guilty Of Doing
The Very Same Thing, I Might Have Prided Myself On Superior Humanity
When I Experienced The Nausea In Viewing My Men Kill These Two.
The elephant first killed was a male, not full grown;
his height at the withers, 8 feet 4 inches; circumference of the fore foot,
44 inches * 2 = 7 feet 4 inches.
The female was full grown,
and measured in height 8 feet 8 inches; circumference of the fore foot,
48 inches * 2 = 8 feet (96 inches). We afterward found that
full-grown male elephants of this region ranged in height at the withers
from 9 feet 9 inches to 9 feet 10 inches, and the circumference
of the fore foot to be 4 feet 9-1/2 inches * 2 = 9 feet 7 inches.
These details are given because the general rule has been observed
that twice the circumference of the impression made by the fore foot
on the ground is the height of the animal. The print on the ground,
being a little larger than the foot itself, would thus seem to be
an accurate mode of measuring the size of any elephant that has passed;
but the above measurements show that it is applicable only
to full-grown animals. The greater size of the African elephant in the south
would at once distinguish it from the Indian one; but here they approach
more nearly to each other in bulk, a female being about as large
as a common Indian male.
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