THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT AND ITS HUNTERS
THIS volume is not an attempt to deal with the elephant throughout its range in Africa, as the author’s experiences of hunting these animals only apply to the territories of Nyasaland, North-Eastern Rhodesia, and Portuguese East Africa.
Probably there never lived a man who has hunted the elephant in all its habitats in Africa, arid having read practically all the literature on the subject in the English language I have not discovered such an individual.
Selous hunted in Mashonaland and Matabeleland, now known as Southern Rhodesia; Neumann in British East Africa, now called Kenya Colony; and Stigand in Nyasaland and the Congo.
Perhaps Sir Alfred Sharpe has had a more varied experience of elephant hunting than any living person, and it is a pity he does not write more on the subject.
Before the days of licenses, when a hunter could not find a large tusker, he took a small one, and if there were no bulls worth a shot he would fire at cows.
Pound for pound cow ivory is of much greater value than that of the bulls, but the tusks seldom grow heavier than 15 Ibs.
Of course, it was imperative that restrictions should be made, for the improvement in sporting weapons and the development of communications would soon have brought the animals to the point of extinction.
Therefore, though the modern hunter is apt to chafe at the limitations imposed, he has gained in usually having more time for nature study.
The elephants, owing to increased molestation, now seek thicker country and do not as formerly spend much time in open exposed places.
I believe that elephant hunting today, notwithstanding the great improvement in weapons, is more dangerous than it was in the past, for constant persecution naturally makes the animals more apt to resent interference and to act offensively.
However, there is a tendency on the part of cinema photographers, who cannot be expected to know very much about the true habits of game, to describe” charges ” when the animals are only frightened and trying to escape.
Scent being the strongest sense in most mammals, when one or more animals are disturbed, they try to go upwind, so that they can smell danger from their front.
In doing so they may often seem to come directly for the disturber of their peace and may rush almost over the hunter or photographer in their efforts to come round towards the wind.
Should a herd of elephants or buffaloes do this and be suddenly startled by the appearance of a human being they almost invariably split up and pass to either side.
Moreover, a real charge is one made with intent to do harm, and herds of game seldom act in combination in this way. This is a good thing for hunters and photographers, for if such were the case there would be few left to relate their experiences or show their fine pictures to the audiences of picture-houses.
Therefore, when a person is anxious to know true facts regarding the habits of game, he is more likely to get his information from those with a long experience of hunting than from the man who takes long range pictures of the animals during short trips into the game country.
Few animals act on the offensive unless they are wounded, and the first instinct of all wild creatures is to bolt, for the scent and sight of man (especially the white man) are abhorrent to them.
Animals become very tame after several generations have grown accustomed to the proximity of man. On the other hand, they get very wary and nervy when their inherited instincts of fear teach them that humans are a menace to their further existence.
There is another matter I would like to comment on, and it is the subject of the critics of books.
I know that a person’s views of life largely depend on his digestion, but all the same it is very unfair because a reviewer happens to suffer from a sluggish liver, or spasms in a wisdom tooth, that he should vent his wrath on the writer of a book whose accounts are founded on a long practical experience of his subject.
If I were asked to review a work on astronomy or metallurgy, I am sure I would have the sense to refrain. Yet, many books are reviewed by people who cannot be expected to know anything about the subjects written about. The only good point about malicious notice is that it often helps to sell the book because people say ” I wonder what it is all about? ” so, they buy it to
find out. People of acumen will notice that nasty reviewers’ seldom have the courage to sign their names and they nearly always deal in anonymity which is I think the worst point of the matter.
A law should be made that such articles should be signed. I am sure publishers, as well as authors, will agree with this.
I must acknowledge here the kindness of Messrs. Lewis & Peat Ltd., the well-known ivory merchants of 6 Mincing Lane, for allowing me to quote freely from their interesting pamphlet on ivory.
If I have criticized the part dealing with so-called ” elephant-cemeteries ” I have done so because I wished to enlighten the public on a matter which has no foundation in facts; and the man who has walked for thousands of miles through elephant haunts is likely to know more about such a matter than those who have not had similar opportunities to gain a practical knowledge of such a subject.
I have shown how the vultures by day and the hyenas at night would soon find the dead elephant and attract the human inhabitants to the scene, when the ivory would be removed. To the same firm I am indebted for the excellent photograph of a symmetrical pair of Congo tusks.
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT AND ITS WAYS
THE ” Guide to the Great Game Animals ” (Ungulata), published by the authorities of the British Museum, mentions five races of the African elephant as follows:
1. The South African elephant (Elephas africanus cdpensis).
2. The West African elephant (Elepkas africanus cyclotis).
3. The Sudan elephant (Elephas africanus oxyotis).
4. The East African elephant (Elepfa* africanus knockenhaueri).
5. The Congo dwarf elephant (Elephas africanus pumilio).
Amongst these five I doubt whether there are really more than two distinct races, these being the South African elephant (i) and the Congo Dwarf elephant (5).
The first four races given may differ slightly as to height, shape of ears, size of feet, shade of skin, and so on; but any difference there may be between the one and the other is probably simply due to family variety and the conditions in which they live.
Rowland Ward in his excellent book, ” Records of Big Game/’ does not attempt to differentiate the tusks of these four races, though he separates the tusks of the Congo race of Dwarf elephant from the other races in his list of weights and measurements.
Although the Dwarf elephant is justifiably separated on account of its diminutive size, I believe its dimensions are simply due to its favored habitat.
It is known that trees which grow in great shade become small and stunted, and I believe the Dwarf elephant has been similarly affected by living in thick and shady cover, and that its original progenitors belonged to the same species which produced the common elephant of Africa, that is the race known as Ele-phas afncanus ca-ftensis.
With regard to the small size of the Congo Dwarf elephant it is interesting to remember that the Pigmy hippopotamus of Liberia has also become stunted in size, due to its love of frequenting shady pooh of water in dense forests.
The height of the large bull elephant in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington is given as 1 1 feet 4 inches. It was shot near Fort Manning in Nyasaland by Mr. T. A. Barns; and anyone who has seen many large African elephants will notice from the contour and build of this animal that it belongs to a particularly tall and lanky type, so I believe it measured in life what has been made to appear in death.
I put the matter this way because when such a huge skin as an elephant’s has been removed from the carcass with the intention of having it set up later, the skin is not pegged-out; but is left to dry naturally.
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