He fell stone
dead, with the silk patch of the rifle smoking in the wound.
Now in this position no light gun could have killed that
elephant; the ball had to pass through the roots of the upper
grinders, and keep its course through hard bones and tough
membranes for about two feet before it could reach the brain; but
the line was all right, and the heavy metal and charge of powder
kept the ball to its work.
This is the power which every elephant-gun should possess: it
should have an elephant's head under complete command in every
attitude.
There is another advantage in heavy metal; a heavy ball will
frequently stun a vicious elephant when in full charge, when a
light ball would not check him; his quietus is then soon arranged
by another barrel. Some persons, however, place too much
confidence in the weight of the metal, and forget that it is
necessary to hold a powerful rifle as straight as the smallest
gun. It is then very common during a chase of a herd to see the
elephants falling tolerably well to the shots, but on a return
for their tails, it is found that the stunned brutes have
recovered and decamped.
Conical balls should never be used for elephants; they are more
apt to glance, and the concussion is not so great as that
produced by a round ball. In fact there is nothing more perfect
for sporting purposes than a good rifle from a first-rate maker,
with a plain ball of from No. 12 to No. 10. There can be no
improvement upon such a weapon for the range generally required
by a good shot.
I am very confident that the African elephant would be killed by
the brain-shot by Ceylon sportsmen with as much case as the
Indian species. The shape of the head has nothing whatever to do
with the shooting, provided the guns are powerful and the hunter
knows where the brain lies.
When I arrived in Ceylon one of my first visits was to the
museum at Colombo where I carefully examined the transverse
sections of an elephant's skull, until perfectly acquainted with
its details. From the museum I cut straight to the
elephant-stables and thoroughly examined the head of the living
animal, comparing it in my own mind with the skull, until I was
thoroughly certain of the position of the brain and the
possibility of reaching it from any position.
An African sportsmen would be a long time in killing a Ceylon
elephant, if he fired at the long range described by most
writers; in fact, he would not kill one out of twenty that he
fired at in such a jungle-covered country as Ceylon, where, in
most cases, everything depends upon the success of the first
barrel.
It is the fashion in Ceylon to get as close as possible to an
elephant before firing; this is usually at about ten yards'
distance, at which range nearly every shot must be fatal. In
Africa, according to all accounts, elephants are fired at thirty,
forty, and even at sixty yards. It is no wonder, therefore, that
African sportsmen take the shoulder shot, as the hitting of the
brain would be a most difficult feat at such a distance, seeing
that the even and dusky color of an elephant's head offers no
peculiar mark for a delicate aim.
The first thing that a good sportsmen considers with every animal
is the point at which to aim so to bag him as speedily as
possible. It is well known that all animals, from the smallest to
the largest, sink into instant death when shot through the brain;
and that a wound through the lungs or heart is equally fatal,
though not so instantaneous. These are accordingly the points for
aim, the brain, from its small size, being the most difficult to
hit. Nevertheless, in a jungle country, elephants must be shot
through the brain, otherwise they would not be bagged, as they
would retreat with a mortal wound into such dense jungle that no
man could follow. Seeing how easily they are dropped by the
brainshot if approached sufficiently near to ensure the
correctness of the aim, no one would ever think of firing at the
shoulder who had been accustomed to aim at the head.
A Ceylon sportsman arriving in Africa would naturally examine the
skull of the African elephant, and when once certain of the
position of the brain he would require no further information.
Leave him alone for hitting it if he knew where it was.
What a sight for a Ceylon elephant-hunter would be the first view
of a herd of African elephants - all tuskers! In Ceylon, a
"tusker" is a kind of spectre, to be talked of by a few who have
had the good luck to see one. And when he is seen by a good
sportsman, it is an evil hour for him - he is followed till he
gives up his tusks.
It is a singular thing that Ceylon is the only part of the world
where the male elephant has no tusks; they have miserable little
grubbers projecting two or three inches from the upper jaw and
inclining downward. Thus a man may kill some hundred elephants
without having a pair of tusks in his possession. The largest
that I have seen in Ceylon were about six feet long, and five
inches in diameter in the thickest part.
