trunk raised high in the air, he turned the distended tip towards the
tree from behind which I was watching him. He was perfectly motionless
and silent in this attitude for some moments. He was thirty yards from
me, as I supposed at the time, and I reserved my fire, having the
four-ounce rifle ready. Suddenly, with his trunk still raised, his long
legs swung forward towards me. There was no time to lose; I was
discovered, and a front shot would be useless with his trunk in that
position. Just as his head was in the act of turning towards me I took a
steady shot at his temple. He sank gently upon his knees, and never
afterwards moved a muscle! His eyes were open, and so bright that I
pushed my finger in them to assure myself that life was perfectly
extinct. He was exactly thirty-two paces from the rifle, and the ball
had passed in at one temple and out at the other. His height may be
imagined from this rough method of measuring. A gun-bearer climbed upon
his back as the elephant lay upon all-fours, and holding a long stick
across his spine at right angles, I could just touch it with the points
of my fingers by reaching to my utmost height. Thus, as he lay, his back
was seven feet two inches, perpendicular height, from the ground. This
would make his height when erect about twelve feet on the spine-an
enormous height for an elephant, as twelve feet on the top of the back
is about equal to eleven feet six inches at the shoulder. If I had not
fortunately killed this elephant at the first shot, I should have had
enough to do to take care of myself, as he was one of the most
vicious-looking brutes that I ever saw, and he was in the very act of
charging when I shot him.

With these elephants the four-ounce rifle is an invaluable weapon; even
if the animal is not struck in the mortal spot, the force of the blow
upon the head is so great that it will generally bring him upon his
knees, or at least stop him. It has failed once or twice in this, but