I could distinguish nothing; but I heard a
heavy fall, and a few moments after I could hear a rustling in the grass
as the herd of elephants retreated into the grass jungles. Richarn
declared that the elephant had fallen; but I again heard a rustling in
the high grass jungle within eighty yards of me, and this sound
continued in the same place. I accordingly concluded that the elephant
was very badly wounded, and that he could not move from the spot.
Nothing could be seen.
At length the birds began to chirp, and the "blacksmith" (as I named one
of the first to wake, whose two sharp ringing notes exactly resemble the
blows of a hammer upon an anvil) told me that it was nearly daybreak.
The grey of morning had just appeared when I heard voices, and I saw
Mrs. Baker coming along the field with a party of men, whom she had
brought down from the village with knives and axes. She had heard the
roar of the heavy rifle, and knowing the "Baby's" scream, and the usual
fatal effects, she had considered the elephant as bagged. The natives
had also heard the report, and people began to accumulate from all
quarters for the sake of the flesh. The elephant was not dead, but was
standing about ten yards within the grass jungle; however, in a short
time a heavy fall sounded his knell, and the crowd rushed in. He was a
fine bull, and before I allowed him to be cut up, I sent for the
measuring tape; the result being as follows:
From tip of trunk to fleshy end of tail . . . 26 feet 0.5 inches
Height from shoulder to forefoot in a perpendicular line 10 ft 6.5 in
Girth of forefoot .. . . . . . . . . . 4 ft 10.25 in
Length of one tusk in the curve . . . . . . . 6 ft 6 in
Ditto of fellow tusk (el Hadam, the servant) . . . . 5 ft 11 in
Weight of tusks, 80 lbs. and 69 lbs. = 149 lbs.
The ridiculous accounts that I have read, stating that the height of
elephants attains FIFTEEN feet, is simply laughable ignorance. A
difference of a foot in an elephant's height is enormous; he appears a
giant among his lesser comrades. Observe the difference between a horse
sixteen hands high and a pony of thirteen hands, and the difference of a
foot in the height of a quadruped is exemplified. The word being given,
the crowd rushed upon the elephant, and about three hundred people were
attacking the carcase with knives and lances. About a dozen men were
working inside as though in a tunnel; they had chosen this locality as
being near to the fat, which was greatly coveted.
A few days later I attempted to set fire to the grass jungle, but it
would not burn thoroughly, leaving scorched stems that were rendered
still tougher by the fire.
