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. On the following evening I took a stroll over
the burnt ground to look for game.
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