ELEPHANT
TO my mind lions and leopards are the most fascinating beasts to have as pets, but, to watch and study, elephant are even more captivating, and are the most interesting to hunt. People may ask, " Why, if you _profess to be fond of these animals, do you kill them? " The answer is that it is an inborn instinct ; briefly, it is the thrill of the chase which you either have or have not. With elephant you have the excitement of pitting your wits and hunting skill against that of an antagonist who can in turn kill you. You may
do this because it is your job if you happen to be an elephant-control officer in one of the East African Game Departments ; or because you live in East Africa and want to combine the thrill of big-game hunting with a chance -of paying your expenses, if not of actually making any money. Or again, you may have hunted most species of big game and want as a trophy an outstandingly fine pair of tusks to complete your collection. .
An elephant-hunt is a long-drawn-out affair, even after you have
finally sighted your quarry. Unless you are lucky you will have to walk many many miles for many many days through difficult country in a distinctly warm climate. You send out scouts as well as searching diligently yourself, and at last come across an outstandingly big foot- print. This is not necessarily a certainty as regards heavy tusks, but it is always worth following. In time you get close ; you know this by dropped leaves or freshly bruised or broken branches, or by positively warm droppings. At last you see a portion of a form, but you cannot yet get a shot. You have to estimate the weight of the tusks, and that is not learnt in a day ;- you want each tusk to weigh at least a hundred pounds, or to be particularly long. Your prize may have heavy yet ugly tusks, -or he may have only one ; equally possibly he is guarded by two friends. These told patriarchs are looked after in their old age by one or more younger bulls. He may be standing in cover where it is only possible to approach from one side. This you dare not risk because of the wind, which may be tricky ; elephant deliberately seek such areas for their siestas. It only wants one puff to undo ten hours' walking, as once your quarry smells you he will disappear. Or perhaps his companions are standing so that it is impossible to take a brain shot, or the much bigger target of the heart. You can be very near and yet far as regards even firing a shot.
Admittedly an elephant is a big enough animal, but often one cannot get a clear view of a vital organ. Consequently one has to get close, and seldom shoots at over thirty yards ; closer is much better. It is unwise and unfair to risk a long shot, since a wounded elephant seldom leaves a blood-trail, and his tracks may get inextricably mixed with those of a herd. These huge beasts move with uncanny silence. Their hides seem to absorb sound as they slip past stick-dry branches ; all you hear is an occasional boom as a flapping ear thuds against a branch. When you disturb a herd it sounds like a squadron of tanks crashing past.
Cautious and alert though they are, particularly the cows, one can
sometimes be unbelievably close and yet remain unnoticed. Last year I spent one of the most frightening minutes of my life less than eleven feet from a cow who was gazing serenely over my head ; there was nothing between us save a very thin sapling. That hawser-like trunk swung about horribly close until she suddenly lifted it and let out a trumpet ; this gave me my clue to dash to one side. As she had been looking straight ahead she had not noticed anything so
puny as a human being. There were at least seventy cows in that herd, which was in a semi-circle round me, and far too many had calves for my peace of mind. Your stature seems to vary according to whether they are advancing or retiring ; those ridiculous-looking sterns seem to make you rise like jack and the Beanstalk.
As Africa gradually becomes more developed the areas where these beasts can roam, as they did of old, are slowly decreasing ; this is where elephant " control " or restricted shooting •is necessary. Game- control is actually a form of game-preservation although certain numbers are killed annually ; it is only by preventing a serious clash of wild animal and human interests that the former can be preserved. The elephant populations of Kenya and Uganda are slightly smaller than Tanganyika's. In Uganda the herds are more concentrated, since there are fewer uncultivated areas than in Kenya and Tan- ganyika, though this may change presently. In spite of the numbers killed annually they are not decreasing, which shows how unmerciful were the old slavers and poachers. Today no one can make a living by hunting elephant because game laws are enforced and licences are so high that with the great distances to be covered it just does not pay. Ivory fluctuates in price and is about eleven shillings a pound at present. Most of it goes to India, but because of trade balances only a limited quantity may be imported.
For centuries elephant have gone where they liked when they liked, and old customs die hard ; they have raided native crops when- ever they felt like a change of diet. A small herd can do untold damage in one night on a European farm, or in a native banana or maize garden. Many natives make little or no effort to protect their crops because they know that, if they complain, a control officer will investigate their claims, and if necessary shoot one or more beasts— according to the severity of the lesson he considers the herd needs. Elephant are most intelligent beasts, so it may be asked why, if they know that retribution will follow, they continue to raid crops. You yourself enjoy smoking, and may not cut• down your cigarettes by half when told to by your doctor ; and crop-raiding is inherent in elephant. In olden days natives dug pits, laid trip-cords attached to spears weighted with logs across their paths, used poisoned arrows, and ringed them with fire, butchering whole herds.
Elephant which habitually raid crops will give you all the excite- ment you can ask. They trek far after a raid, and then seek the most difficult country in which to spend the day. This consists of elephant grass, twelve to fourteen feet high, or equally dense thickets of bush, or really thick forest. They brush aside such impediments to their passage as you brush aside a cobweb. They do not see well, but they more than make up for this with their sense of hearing and smell. There are few more unpleasant sights than that of a snake- like-tip trunk waving about in the air far above your head when the terrain is such that you can see no other portion .of the beast, and that trunk-tip may be but ten yards off and searching for your smell. If elephant have been heavily shot they do not run away once they wind you ; they come looking for you in a most determined and far from friendly spirit. Once an elephant is charging nothing will stop it save a frontal brain shot, a very difffcult target. In my experience the scream of an angry elephant is the most upsetting sound of all noises made by dangerous game. It is devastating in its intensity and venom, and is very different from the trumpet which, although loud, is not alarming. If you miss the vital area—it depends on the correct judging of the angle—a bullet in the face from a heavy. double-barrelled rifle may turn the elephant and save your life ; but it will not always do this, as a number of graves dotted about Africa testify.
Like other game elephant react favourably to wise protection— which is why the establishment of National Parks is so necessary. In these parks game harms nobody, and no crops are damaged, while pleasure is given to people of every nationality. The lions in the Serengetti Plains of Tanganyika are but one example of how wild animals can be taught to tolerate man. The elephant around Katwe in Uganda know perfectly well that the smell of human beings, once so dangerous, is no longer dangerous provided they stay in their reserve, and this they do. Yet, docile though all game can become, there are limits to what they will stand. All species give warnings of their intentions—if you know how to read them.
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