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HUNTING ELEPHANT IN WILDS Experience of a Cinema Photog ¬ rapher in the African Forest Attacked by Hliiiioscerott ami Mauled Mauledby by Big Leopard AVJille AVJilleat at AVorlc When the lion was given the name of the king of bejists he filched a title he had never earned it was never dtie him He is not even a good third in the scale of African animals Evenly matched the buffalo is too much for him and even when driven by the worst pangs of hunger the rhinoccnns and hippopotamus are immune from his attacks And the elephant takes no notice whatever of his presence unless he should attempt to harm a small calf when the untiring vigilance of the mother or some other member of the group would discover him and a scream and a charge would put the wind up the overrated Leo till he would run and skulk like a chased cur curNot Not wishing to make this sketch one of natural history I will leave the reader to reflect on the above statements that he may form some opinion of the place the elephant really occupies in the list of the worlds most dangerous game in my opinion far in advance of any other species speciesIn In my five years of practically continuous hunt ¬ ing of African game I have killed scores of speci ¬ mens of the most dangerous varieties if any de ¬ serve to be classed as such and could relate many an incident about which I have not yet mentioned to prove the places animals should occupy relative to their pugnacious and physical ability to defend themselves or become aggressive but will here only relate briefly a couple of incidents in the way of comparisons before describing a inixup with a tusker in the Kenia jungle jungleOn On one occasion I fired into the open mouth of a charging lioness not Imviug time to put the rifle to position And the result was a lifeless animal in an instant instantI I have been three times off my feet from the rushes of a wounded buffalo in every instance a dead one ia three to five seconds secondsOn On another occasion in taking cinemapictures of giraffe my sou and I were charged unexpect ¬ edly by two rhinoceroses from short range the l easts coming fronr dense cover Only a 30OG with softnosed cartridges was at hand A single shot put the cow down at ten paces The nearly grown calf came on I was reluctant to kill him till I kicked him in the nose which provoked him to dash at me and he went down stone dead fall ¬ ing with his head beneath the tripod of the camera Then the cow got up she hail been only stunned and charged viciously A rhinos horn when charg ¬ ing is always in the way of a dead shot I hit hers twice the softnoses sheering off doing no damage Then the rifle failed to function the last cartridge And the rhino missing me tossed the camera and then came for me I sidestepped her jumped in against her shoulder and though she did her worst for a minuet yet the niggers emptied two rifles at about fifty yards when she be ¬ came panicky and dashed away to cover After a few minutes she again charged but went down dead from a single shot shotHUNTER HUNTER MATTIiZD BY BIG LEOPARD LEOPARDAt At this writing I am convalescing from a hand tohand with a big male leopard the biggest of to exceed a score which I have killed in the past year After throwing me to the ground 1 was so close I could not shoot I beat him off with the rifle and shot him dead a single shot from the little Savage 230 finishing him instantly So when 1 makff the statement that the elephant is the most dangerous of all game I do it with some expe expeTo To demonstrate some of the propensities of the biggest landmammal I will narrate an incident which came within my experience oil a recent hunt on ilt Kenia KeniaTo To all who have hunted big game in East Africa the Kenia elephants are well known They are the survival of the fittest of all that formerly roamed over a vast district of salubrious hills and lower desert on all sides surrounding the great mountain But the coming of the white man has driven all that remains of the many hoards to the fastness of the Kenia jungles And as the mount ¬ ain is terribly cold and rainy anything but con i oieiiimpts jt has taken some driving to cause them to hide themselves awav in conditions so different from their natural habitat And this continued driving has done much to sour the temper and arouse the ire of what was once ordinary sluggish elephantsSince mindtheirownhusincss elephants Since Carl Ackeley was mauled by an elephant on Kenia some ten years ago only two sportsmen Mr Roosevelt and Mr While have visited the mountain both under the wellknown guide Mr Cunningham to really hunt for and kill elephants Both of these gentlemen were charged and only quick and accurate shooting with the heaviest rifles saved them from the fate of Jlr Ackeley And Mr Cunningham after the finish of Mr Whites safari declared he would never again visit Kenia for elephants and to this writing he has kept his word wordHut Hut there arc elephants on Kenia more and easier of access than any other spot on the conti ¬ nent And desiring a more accurate and personal knowledge of the district and its animal life I made the trip into the jungleforest with the hope of getting some cinemafilm of the few species that dwell in the dark fastness fastnessWe We camped at the edge of the real forest forestThe The government has surveyed and cleared a line forming the boundary between the Kikuyu reserve and forest proi er and has removed all the natives Wanderobo from the latter compelling them to take up abode in the reservation under the sur ¬ veillance of native ixjlice lest they might return to their old pursuit of sheeting elephants with lKisoned arrows or chasing them into skillfully covered pits in which are set poisoned spears and sharp poin ted stakes Thus the natives inhabit the reservation to the very line and in the absence of the police trespass and harass the elephants while Me animals spend the days in the fastness of the lark jungle coming ut by night to raid and de ¬ stroy the shambas of the natives And while the hatred of the elephants for the natives is some ¬ thing to H reckoned with the feelings of the natives against the animals are even of more intensity intensityLONG LONG CHASE AFTER BULL ELEPHANT ELEPHANTOwing Owing to the damage done by the elephants and to which the government turns a deaf ear the animals must be protected the natives natu ¬ rally rail with delight the arrival of a hunter to the forest And on the first morning in camp Infore oclock two Kikuyu came to tell me that an old bull hud lxeii all night in their bananas and that he hail just started for the forest lie was yet in the reserve but by hurrying we could intercept him at a certain point on the line lineAfter After a bite of breakfast I gave instructions for my porters to bring the cameras and some food and follow us and with three local natives I scur ¬ ried away taking the 401 and SOOti Winchesters aud six extra cartridges besides those contained in the rifles Only expecting to go a short distance from camp and only being in quest Of a lone ele ¬ phant I thought these quite sufficient hut they were not We failed to connect witli the elephant at the intended sjmt lie had preceded us and gone on into the forest which at the particular i ot was grown iu with a mat of treeferns and vines the ground was covered with water and travel slow and tedious But the elephant was going against the wind and as their ears and eyes are quite dull we had nothing to fear so hurried on depending on the noise from breaking twigs and vines to re ¬ veal to us the close presence of the animal in due time not to be taken by surprise for ho knew nothing of our following followingJlut Jlut we hail a long trip before us The elephant had some particular destination in view IVrhaps he was the itinsort of some herd of cows that would not risk bringing their small calves down near the habitations of the natives Anyway he took a straight course up the long slope of the mountain SOUKS point in view and totally uncon ¬ scious of any danger from the rear rearAt At noon my Ixjys had not overtaken us and we were at the merging of the forest and the bamboo Jtain had begun falling and it was tcrrihlv cold Jlut the natives assured me that the bull was a big one though the tracks did not verify it how ¬ ever the feet of Kenia elephants are not nearlv so big compared with the size of the animal as are those of the desert lidrds Hut we hurried on onThe The trail stuck strictly to old and wellbeaten paths thus making travel possible at a fair rate of speed through a jungle that was jmpossible in most places save for these rouds of game We gameWe had no time to dwell on the beauties of the wilderness I only remember seeing a band of colobas monkeys and the spoor of a bongo and a giant forest pig So we hurried on hoping to overtake the beast in time to return to camp for a night in that cold wet forest within a few hun ¬ dred f ft of tho Knowline was anything but invit ¬ ing to think of ofAt At 330 the wind shifted we were going down wind OThere was no other possible route by which we might deviate and keep iu toucli with the ele ¬ phant We just had to follow on behind hoping for the shifting of the wind or the turning of the trail In both we were disappointed disappointedMEET MEET HERD OF DOZEN ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTSAfter After a half hour of the downwind course I distinctly heard a bamboo break not to exceed fifty yards ahead Hurrying on 1 saw the tall reeds swaying but the auinml had disappeared stealthily noiselessly yet hurriedly And how he did it in that tangle of bamboo was impossible to comprehend Yet he had gone and in his haste he had broken but a single reed reedBut But his course had changed now at right angles to the wind which was blowing bitterly cold He had taken a path directly up a steep ridge in bamboo as thick as growing wheat and owing to the altitude only about as high as the animals back backThe The rain had turned into half snow and through an opening in the jungle through which the moist ¬ ure was driven with a stinging force a hill white and devoid of vegetation loomed up ahead aheadThe The sight of the snow chilled the natives who were clad only in light blankets one each and ther were of the thinnest possible kind costing around thirty cents each perhaps two years before And in my light clothes with only a sweater over an undershirt the reader will not wonder that we hesi ¬ tated to proceed with the night almost upon us But as we stood parleying about going on the bam ¬ boo crashed and popped and rattled only a few yards to our right a herd of many elephants had caught our scent and were coming or going we could not tell which and there was nothing to do but stand and sec secBut But they passed us some not to exceed thirty feet away breaking a road three rods wide through the dense tangle I saw distinctly a dozen ani ¬ mals but not a bull with ivory ivoryWhen When the herd had passed us and lost the scent they stopped as suddenly as they had started Then was the time of danger An old cow bugled break ¬ ing bamboo snapped there was no question that they were returning so we dived into the road they had broken and ran for it tearing clothes and skin against the slanting broken ends of bamboo which naturally pointed against our course courseTwo Two of the natives were some two rods in the lead while the third handicapped with my extra rifle was in the rear We had reached the foot of the ridge in biinlx o of almost indescribable dense ness when the crashing of the reeds and the yelling of the niggers as they disappeared into the jungle assured me that we were being caught between two sections of the herd herdIt It was hopeless to dive into the jungle The shooting was tetter in the broken trail I had only time for these thoughts when the head of a lone ele ¬ phant with white gleaming tusks aud ears out ¬ spread and his trunk outstretched before him crashed into view floundering through the soft wet earth sinking in almost to his huse body bodyHe He struck the scent of where the two negroes went into the jungle hesitating momentarily Sev ¬ eral halfdown stalks of bamboo partly hid his head But aiming for the fatal spot on the low fore ¬ head I fired Two of three reeds of bamboo wilted as the bullet crashed home and the big creature squealed and groaned and dived for the cover of the jungle I drove the four remaining cartridges into his ribs cutting roads through the reeds before reaching their mark markWOUNDED WOUNDED BULL GETS AWAY AWAYScreaming Screaming and grunting he tore his way through the bambco breaking out into the trail just in sight on the crest of the hill and just as his companions came tearing toward us usThe The niggers quick to detect the signs of danger darted from the bamboo and again we ran for it down the elephant road into the lied of the stream at the bottom with the kelele noise of the herd close iu our rear rearIn In this chase the natives left me far in the rear I could not keep pace with them over the slipiwry stones in the deep mud and my clothes seemed to catch oil every protruding reed But unmindful of all impediments we all struggled on through ice water and despite many hindrances thinking only of putting distance between us and the oncoming oncomingNaturally Naturally our progress was slow I could hear the splashing of the natives in the lead when ex ¬ hausted I stopped to listen The breaking of bamboo and bellowing of the herd was at its height but I realized they were milling on the hillside about where the bull met them themBeing Being sure the elephant was mortally hit some of the shots had surely reached his heart or lungs eagerness prompted me to venture back to have a look lookI I had not followed the bed of the stream far and the going with the bend of the down reeds was much easier than against them and it required but a minute to gain the top of the rise sufficiently to see the entire herd which nunibered about fifty animals all milling and squealing and tearing up and slinging about stalks and Tnmches of bamboo iu the wildest fashion fashionCautiously Cautiously I advanced trusting to the preoccu ¬ pation of the animals that they would not notice my approach At a hundred yards distance I could easily see the high hips and shoulders of the wounded bull above those of his companions and could see him reel and sway white many of the herd crowded about him himDarkness Darkness was falling and I had but a minute to gaze Either seen or scented I became the ob ¬ jective of two old cows and again darted for the creek reaching it only a few yards in advance of the infuriated beasts The soft nature of the ground was too much for them they hesitated sniffed and blew through their uplifted trunks while I gained the cover of the banks and vegeta ¬ tion along the creek creekThe The day was done There was no further use of attempts to ascertain the results of my shooting And with the coming darkness more snow came with the rain and the cold became more pinching pinchingIt It was quite dark when we found a little flat against the stream where the ground was too steep and soft for elephants to venture on here we decided to camp for the night There was not a single tree beneath which to escape the falling dampness and only the dead bamboo for fuel But with belt knives we soon erected a sort of leanto and kindled a fire with the aid of a torch of half rotten wood one of the natives had carried through ¬ out the day from which to blow the smoke aud ashes to determine the direction of the wind We were then prepared to spend a miserable night nightThe The entire night ruin and snow continued aud at intervals the elephants bellowed and broke the bam ¬ boo but the sounds became more distant as the night advanced advancedIt It kept us busy breaking fuel and kindling fire and the first streaks of morning light were the most welcome I have ever seen Great banks of clouds rolled over the chest of Kenia and the crashes of thunder mingled with the sounds of streams echoed up and down the wild ravines and almost a covering of snov blanketed tho ground and clung to the moaning bamboo reeds We were almost at the timl erline erlineAs As soon as light made it possible we were out and on the spoor of the departed herd Although much rain had fallen plenty of bloodstains marked the trail of the bull een when others had fol ¬ lowed in the rear rearFor For two hours we plodded on when the boys who had followed us with the cameras the preceding day came up They had camped for the night at the junction of the bamboo and wood forest by the side of the main elephant road and told us that the herd had passed them at about 3 oclock in the morning going down the mountain evidently be ¬ coming chilled by the unusually severe storm The wounded bull was with them BIG BULL GIVES A LONG CHASE CHASEJust Just as the sun broke through the great banks of clouds its warm rays penetrating the small openings of the jungle and for the first time in twenty hours sending warm sensations through bur benumbed bodies we left the trail taking a short cut for the lower countrv countrvla la taking the shorter route back to the main elephant road our course lav down a long gentle slope covered with a dense growth of bamboo in which grew an occasional lone cedar tree so vine covered that moisture from rain seldom reached the ground beneath it The path we were in passed close to one of these trees AVhcn within a few yards an elephant broke from beneath it crashing through the bamltoo most of which had been fire killed and was down or leaning he made as much noise as a whole herd under ordinary circumstances circumstancesWe We examined the spoor finding it large for the Keuia animals about fiftyfive inches in circum ¬ ference which indicated he should have really good ivory and as he started in our direction down the ridge we followed followedFor For about two miles he had run then slowed down to a walk Then he began a series of zig ¬ zagging evidence that lie was on the alert for danger from the rear But as had been the case the previous day the jungle was that thick we could do nothing but follow on in his wake wakeUnexpectedly Unexpectedly we came upon him within a rod but the cover was so thick that I saw only his rump as the bamboo closed behind him himThe The course lay down a steep slope steep for an elephant to run even had the ground been dry but being wet he slid more than ran ranAt At a point in his course a tree fully sixteen inches through was square in his way and not noting it in his wild dash and being unable to check his terrible momentum he struck it fairly uprooting it and waded on over its entire leugth leugthAt At the foot of the hill he again settled down to a walk And again the turning and backtrailing began beganThe The character of the country was now quite dif ¬ ferent the ba jjood being about half replaced by wild l erry vines as thick as the larger reeds and as high but owing to the presence of creepers on which elephants feed these patches were well cut up with roads roadsKnowing Knowing that it was futile to follow along the trail and ever get sight of the wary old chap we left his spoor going from vine patch to vine patch the while keping a close lookout for after a night of rain the elephant would want to stand and bask in the sunshine in some of these half clearings once he became satisfied he was not being followed followedWe We had spent a full two hours in such searching aud had almost completely circled the spot where the trail had been left and were satisfied he was stuck up somewhere in the immediate vicinity when on passing round a curve in the path I saw him quietly feeding on some wild cucumber vines rump on at about twenty yards He was totally un ¬ conscious of the presence of anyone Evidently he had forgotten us usAhead Ahead a few paces grew a lone teak tree from which clung a mass of vines and creepers and the wind being favorable we moved up to this two of the natives cautiously ascending by means of the big vines to the first limb some twenty feet above the ground Then oue made signs down to us that his tusks were large but I could see nothing but his rump as he fed slowly on directly away from us usTRYING TRYING TO SLOWLY MURDER THE BULL BULLIn In the 405 were four solids and a softnose This the native carried while with similar loads in it I carried the 30OG The line of his back went lower as he fed on so we followed carefully after him a tangle of bamboo he stopped to bask in the sun Then for twenty minutes he stood only moving once when he swung his head to one side displaying a long pair of tusks bnf dark in color while he felt the wind for any danger that might be lurk ¬ ing near Then for another ten minutes he seem ¬ ingly slept sleptBut But something prompted him to move he slowly swayed to one1 side his trunk leisurely up then he turned broadside Now was my chance Carefully drawing a bead on the bottom of the orifice of the ear I pressed the trigger He went down with a crash like the sound made by the falling of some large tree while a dull groan came from the spot where he dropped from sight Owing sightOwing to the density of the vines he was entirely invisible And my usual habit when a dangerous beast goes down is to run in on him and despatch him at close range where there will be no ques ¬ tion of accuracy of fire In a dozen fast leaps I was against him himIn In falling on the steep incline which started from where he stood he had slid about the length of him ¬ self down the hill his tusks collecting a great mass of trash and his head was almost obscured beneath a mass of vines and bamboo bambooAt At a distance of about ten feet I poured three bullets into his head at an angle to reach the brain and he struggled terrifically Then running back to where the native stood with the other rifle I seized it and attempted to pass his hind legs to get behind him or rather to the lower side hoping to be able to get at his head from that direction directionHis His extended hind legs one as high as my head and the other about two feet off the ground com ¬ pletely blocked the only way clear enough of bam ¬ boo by which to gain access to the little semi ¬ circle of clean ground beneath a scrubby tree just below layWhen where his body lay When I was almost in the act of passing between his extended legs he floundered desperately almost catching me in the scissor action of the swiftly working limbs Narrowly averting connection with them I looked between them and saw that he was blinking the exposed eye naturally and strain ¬ ing every muscle to watch me Then for the first time I realized he was only stunned aud the awk ¬ ward position in which he had fallen alone pre ¬ vented him from arising to an attack And as every struggle was putting him in a better position to rise I realized that something must be done and quickly else he would be up and in that thick tangle of briers the consequences of an en ¬ counter were not in the least alluring Cocking alluringCocking the rifle I sprang upon his body be ¬ hind the shoulder leaped to the ground below in the clear of the swinging forelegs and pumped four solid cartridges from the big rifle into his head again in an angle where I figured they would do the most damage Then with but one cartridge left save the softnose in the thirty I drove the re ¬ maining lungHe 405 into his ribs in an angle for the lung He was now struggling his utmost his head com ¬ pletely covered with trash and I was undecided whether lie was dying or doing his best to rise He had slid farther down the hill completely cornering me with his body on a small spot hemmed in on all other sides with an impenetrable tangle of brier vines and bamboo And to get over him was im ¬ possible owing to the faster movements of his legs legsI I yelled for the natives to bring their spears but they were all high in the teak tree Then I tried but hi vain to force my way into the tangle below but the vines blocked me meThere There was but one thing to do remain where I was depending oii the lone scrub of a tree about ten inches thick and beneath which the elephants head had already slid his tnsks owing to the slant of the hill passing straddle of it So be ¬ hind this I forced my way while with a stronger effort the brute gained his feet feetNow Now I must not elaborate must not exaggerate In fact I cannot There was strictly nothing to do but keep behind the tree and on my toes toesTwice Twice before in my life I have completely and stingingly realized the helplessness of the human animal Once was in a storm at sea the ship be ¬ ing loaded with a cargo of passengers who prayed till the shouts came above the breaking of the waves over the old shin while I sat with an eye on a liferaft that was drifting about the main deck moored only by a single ro e The other time was iu an Oklahoma cyclone I was alone and will not describe all my actions but on both occasions I will say that I was most obviously at the mercy of the elements elementsAnd And that was my position with the elephant Be ¬ fore any other enraged beast a man has a fighting show But to jumn in and fight or stoop to pray not me But I was on my toes for a chance to dodge depending on the tree and the keeping of it between me aud the elenhaut I once saved my ¬ self from a rhino by keetTing behind a tree while the old chap ripped the bark from the trunk with his horn as he made many turns of the tree after me meOnce Once on his feet the elephant swayed and groaned and I thought he would fall but he didnt He steadied himself stuck his trunk through the tangle of vines wlrich hung from the tree and blew a shower of blood and spray which went past me like a draft from a hose But he couldnt reach me by nearly two feet though he swayed the tree till it shook and quivered quiveredLEADFILLED LEADFILLED ELEPHANT GETS AWAY AWAYThere There had onened no way of egress The elephant swayed slightly then surged toward the tree carrying it before him vines and all like it had been so much chaff chaffThe The tree broke off about two feet from the ground the splintered end catching my trouscr leg and sinking my foot into the oozy soil almost to my knee But in an instant I was loose leaving my beneathTho shoe beneath Tho sudden giving way of the tree and his weakened condition caused the elephant to go to his knees his head the worse covered with vines and treetop ne slowly regained his feet backing from beneath the debris to clear his head headbeemg beemg my only chance for escai e from the awk ¬ ward corner I darted beneath liis belly and ran for perchedOn the tree on which the natives were perched On the way I picked up the rifle I had first cast aside and fired the softnose into the butt of his ear only a slight curl of dust rising to denote where the missile had hit Slowly hitSlowly turning lie looked about him but las own blood hindered his scent Then reeling he walked into the bamboo while I stood helpless with two empty disappearedAnd guns while he disappeared And I never got him himWe We were within three hours of camp so I dis ¬ patched a boy for blankets and ammunition And with the empty guns we followed along the spoor campward campwardAt At night the boy returned and we camped beside the trail On the following day we followed him till throe oclock when the spoor became impossible owing to the amount of rain which had fallen then we turned to camp Two campTwo days later a native who had been visiting his beeboxes in the forest saw the elephant nearly dead not a mile from where we had left the trail He came in and told me and with full equipment we set out found the spoor but soon lost it owing to more rain Then the old native followed the trails of hyenas about the forest trying in that way to locate the carcass but at the end of another day he had failed And llot having further time I departed for home disgusted with Keuia elephants parted for home disgusted with Kenia elephants and Yankee guns gunsBut But since then I have spent three months in the Congo Beige and had excellent luck with the guns the little 2iiO Savage accounting for three ele ¬ phants one of which was a big tusker four bullets to the heart and the animal went not to exceed a hundred yards yardsA A word further about the guns I think in fact I am sure that the trouble 1 experienced on the Kenia bulls was the failure of the bullets at such close range where the velocity was so great to stand up and follow a course through the heavy l nes of the skull I have since then seen some badly disintegrated 4i s taken from both the heads and bodies of elephants and the 30OG will not penetrate hard and irregularly bony tissue as far as the bigger gun gunAnd And about the elephants The old native whom I left following the trails of hyenas has sent me word that he has two pairs of fine tusks cached away in the Kenia forest and that for a few silver shekels coins of the realm he will take me to them He camped in the forest for ten days sitting up of nights and following the spoor by day listening by nights to the chattering wails of the hyenas and following their trails to and from wa ¬ tering places till the two carcasses were found not a mile apart As soon as I am physically able I am going for them or some others and with the same old guns Charles Cottar in Outdoor Life
