s
of enamel and bone in a very striking manner, and is certainly a much
handsomer article than a handle made of simple ivory.

[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT.]

The elephant is, indeed, one of the most eccentric of animals. There
is no possibility of calculating upon it, and nothing but experience
can serve a hunter when measuring his own intellect against the
elephant's cunning. The scent or sight of a human being at the
distance of a mile will send a herd of powerful male elephants on
their travels, the huge creatures preferring to travel for many miles
rather than meet a man. Yet, when assailed, there is scarcely any
animal which is more to be dreaded. It forgets fear, and, filled with
blind rage, it will chase an armed man in spite of his rifle, and will
continue to charge him until it dies.

It will engage in deadly battle with its own species, or with the
mail-clad rhinoceros, and yet will run away at the barking of a little
dog. There was a curious instance some years ago, when an elephant
that was travelling in America went mad, escaped from its keeper
during the night, and traversed the country for miles, doing great
damage. It broke carts to pieces, killed the horses, and was trying to
force its way into a barn where another horse had taken refuge, when
it was checked by a bull-dog, which flew at the huge animal, bit its
legs, and worried it so thoroughly, that the elephant, mad as it was,
fairly ran away. Indeed, nothing seems to cast this gigantic animal
into such a state of perplexity as the noisy attacks of a little,
cross-tempered, insolent, yapping terrier. The elephant cannot
understand it, and gets into such a state of nervous irritation, that
it never thinks of running away or annihilating its diminutive foe,
but remains near the same spot, making short and ineffectual charges,
until the hunter comes up and deliberately chooses his own position
for attack.

The flesh of the elephant is anything but palatable, and when cut into
strips and dried in the sun, has been aptly compared to leather
straps. A well-known hunter said that the character of elephant's
flesh might easily be imagined by taking the toughest beefsteak ever
cooked, multiplying the toughness by four, and subtracting all the
gravy. The natives, however, are possessed of marvellously strong jaws
and sharp teeth, and to them meat is meat, whether tough or tender.
There are, however, several parts of the elephant which are always
good; an