Excitement of Elephant-shooting--An Unexpected Visitor--A Long Run with
a Buck--Hard Work Rewarded--A Glorious Bay-
-End of a Hard Day's
Work--Bee-hunters--Disasters of Elk-hunting--Bran Wounded--'Old Smut's'
Buck--Boar at Hackgalla--Death of `Old Smut'--Scenery from the Perewelle
Mountains--Diabolical Death of 'Merriman'--Scene of the Murder.
In describing so many incidents in elephant-shooting it is difficult to
convey a just idea of the true grandeur of the sport: it reads too easy.
A certain number are killed out of a herd after an animated chase, and
the description of the hunt details the amount of slaughter, but cannot
possibly explain the peculiar excitement which attends elephant-shooting
beyond all other sports. The size of the animal is so disproportionate
to that of the hunter that the effect of a large herd of these monsters
flying before a single man would be almost ridiculous could the chase be
witnessed by some casual observer who was proof against the excitement
of the sport. The effect of a really good elephant shot in the pursuit
of a herd over open country is very fine. With such weapons as the
double-barrelled No. 10 rifles a shot is seldom wasted; and during the
chase, an elephant drops from the herd at every puff of smoke. It is a
curious sight, and one of the grandest in the world, to see a fine rogue
elephant knocked over in full charge. His onset appears so irresistible,
and the majesty of his form so overwhelming, that I have frequently
almost mistrusted the power of man over such a beast; but one shot well
placed, with a heavy charge of powder behind the ball, reduces him in an
instant to a mere heap of flesh.
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