One Of The Most Disgusting Sights Is A Dead Elephant Four Or Five Days
After The Fatal Shot.
In a tropical climate, where decomposition
proceeds with such wonderful rapidity, the effect of the sun upon such a
mass can be readily understood.
The gas generated in the inside distends
the carcass to an enormous size, until it at length bursts and becomes
in a few hours afterwards one living heap of maggots. Three weeks after
an elephant is killed, nothing remains but his bones and a small heap of
dried cases, from which the flies have emerged when the time arrived for
them to change from the form of maggots. The sight of the largest of the
animal creation being thus reduced from life to nothingness within so
short a space of time is an instance of the perishable tenure of
mortality which cannot fail to strike the most unthinking. The majesty,
the power, and the sagacity of the enormous beast are scattered in the
myriads of flies which have fed upon him.
It is a delightful change after a sporting trip of a few weeks in the
hot climates to return again to the cool and even temperature of Newera
Ellia. The tent is a pleasant dwelling when no other can be obtained,
but the comfort of a good house is never so much appreciated as on the
return from the jungle.
One great pleasure in the hunting at Newera Ellia is the ease with which
it is obtained. In fact, the sport lies at the very door. This may be
said to be literally true and not a facon de parler, as I once killed an
elk that jumped through a window. It was a singular incident. The hounds
found three elk at the same time on the mountain at the back of the
hotel at Newera Ellia. The pack divided: several hounds were lost for
two days, having taken their elk to an impossible country, and the rest
of the pack concentrated upon a doe, with the exception of old Smut, who
had another elk all to himself. This elk, which was a large doe, he
brought down from the top of the mountain to the back of the hotel, just
as we had killed the other, which the pack had brought to the same
place. A great number of persons were standing in the hotel yard to view
the sport, when old Smut and his game appeared, rushing in full fly
through the crowd. The elk was so bothered and headed that she went
through the back door of the hotel at full gallop, and Smut, with his
characteristic sagacity, immediately bolted round to the front of the
house, naturally concluding that if she went in at the back door she
must come out at the front. He was perfectly right; the old dog stood on
the lawn before the hotel, watching the house with great eagerness. In
the meantime the elk was galloping from room to room in the hotel,
chased by a crowd of people, until she at length took refuge in a lady's
bedroom, from which there was no exit, as the window was closed.
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