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.
The character of the sport must vary according to the character of the
country; thus there may be parts of Africa at variance with my
description. I only relate my own experience.
Among other weapons, I had an extraordinary rifle that carried a
half-pound percussion shell - this instrument of torture to the hunter
was not sufficiently heavy for the weight of the projectile; it only
weighed twenty pounds: thus, with a charge of ten drachms of powder,
behind a HALF-POUND shell, the recoil was so terrific, that I was spun
round like a weathercock in a hurricane. I really dreaded my own rifle,
although I had been accustomed to heavy charges of powder and severe
recoil for many years.
None of my men could fire it, and it was looked upon with a species of
awe, and was named "Jenna el Mootfah" (child of a cannon) by the Arabs,
which being far too long a name for practice, I christened it the
"Baby;" and the scream of this "Baby," loaded with a half-pound shell,
was always fatal. It was far too severe, and I very seldom fired it, but
it is a curious fact, that I never fired a shot with that rifle without
bagging: the entire practice, during several years, was confined to
about twenty shots. I was afraid to use it; but now and then it was
absolutely necessary that it should be cleaned, after lying for months
loaded. On such occasions my men had the gratification of firing it, and
the explosion was always accompanied by two men falling on their backs
(one having propped up the shooter), and the "Baby" flying some yards
behind them. This rifle was made by Holland, of Bond Street, and I could
highly recommend it for Goliath of Gath, but not for men of A.D. 1866.
The natives of Central Africa generally hunt the elephant for the sake
of the flesh, and prior to the commencement of the White Nile trade by
the Arabs, and the discovery of the Upper White Nile to the 5 degrees N.
lat. by the expedition sent by Mehemet Ali Pasha, the tusks were
considered as worthless, and were treated as bones.
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