I Was Well Wrapped Up In A
Scotch Plaid, But An Attack Of Ague Came On, And I Shivered As Though In
Lapland.
I had several rifles in the grave; among others the "Baby,"
that carried a half-pound explosive shell.
At about 4 A.M. I heard the
distant trumpet of an elephant, and I immediately ordered Richarn to
watch, and to report to me their arrival. It was extremely dark, but
Richarn presently sank slowly down, and whispered, "Here they are!"
Taking the "Baby," I quietly rose, and listening attentively, I could
distinctly hear the elephants tearing off the heads of the tullaboon,
and crunching the crisp grain. I could distinguish the dark forms of the
herd about thirty paces from me, but much too indistinct for a shot. I
stood with my elbows resting on the edge of the hole, and the heavy
rifle balanced, waiting for an opportunity. I had a papersight arranged
for night shooting, and I several times tried to get the line of an
elephant's shoulder, but to no purpose; I could distinguish the sight
clearly, but not the elephant. As I was watching the herd I suddenly
heard a trumpet close to my left, and I perceived an elephant quickly
walking exactly towards my grave. I waited with the rifle at my shoulder
until he was within about twelve paces; I then whistled, and he stopped,
and turned quickly, exposing his side. Taking the line of the foreleg, I
fired at the shoulder. The tremendous flash and smoke of ten drachms of
powder completely blinded me, and the sudden reaction of darkness
increased the obscurity. 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. On the following evening I took a stroll over
the burnt ground to look for game. No elephants had visited the spot;
but as I was walking along expecting nothing, up jumped a wild boar and
sow from the entrance of a large hole of the Manis, or great scaled
anteater. Being thus taken by surprise, the boar very imprudently
charged me, and was immediately knocked over dead by a shot through the
spine from the little Fletcher rifle, while the left-hand barrel rolled
over his companion, who almost immediately recovered and disappeared in
the grass jungle; however, there was pork for those who liked it, and I
went to the camp and sent a number of natives to bring it home. The Obbo
people were delighted, as it was their favourite game, but none of my
people would touch the unclean animal. The wild pigs of this country
live underground; they take possession of the holes made by the Manis:
these they enlarge and form cool and secure retreats.
A bad attack of fever laid me up until the 31st of December. On the
first day of January, 1864, I was hardly able to stand, and was nearly
worn out at the very time that I required my strength, as we were to
start south in a few days.
Although my quinine had been long since exhausted, I had reserved ten
grains to enable me to start in case the fever should attack me at the
time of departure.
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