I saw in an instant that the only road to his brain lay through his upper jaw, in the position in which he was standing; and knowing that he would discover me in another moment, I took the eccentric line for his brain, and fired upward through his jaw.

He fell stone dead, with the silk patch of the rifle smoking in the wound.
Now in this position no light gun could have killed that elephant; the ball had to pass through the roots of the upper grinders, and keep its course through hard bones and tough membranes for about two feet before it could reach the brain; but the line was all right, and the heavy metal and charge of powder kept the ball to its work.
This is the power which every elephant-gun should possess: it should have an elephant's head under complete command in every attitude.
There is another advantage in heavy metal; a heavy ball will frequently stun a vicious elephant when in full charge, when a light ball would not check him; his quietus is then soon arranged by another barrel.
Some persons, however, place too much confidence in the weight of the metal, and forget that it is necessary to hold a powerful rifle as straight as the smallest gun.

It is then very common during a chase of a herd to see the elephants falling tolerably well to the shots, but on a return for their tails, it is found that the stunned brutes have recovered and decamped.
Conical balls should never be used for elephants; they are more apt to glance, and the concussion is not so great as that produced by a round ball.

In fact there is nothing more perfect for sporting purposes than a good rifle from a first-rate maker, with a plain ball of from No.

12 to No.10.There can be no improvement upon such a weapon for the range generally required by a good shot.
I am very confident that the African elephant would be killed by the brain-shot by Ceylon sportsmen with as much case as the Indian species.
The shape of the head has nothing whatever to do with the shooting, provided the guns are powerful and the hunter knows where the brain lies.
When I arrived in Ceylon one of my first visits was to the museum at Colombo where I carefully examined the transverse sections of an elephant's skull, until perfectly acquainted with its details.