156 A NARROW ESCAPE. 



deeply in the temple, and in another instant Issamuttee, one of our ele- 

 phants, struck her with her head like a battering-ram, full on the shoulder, 

 and almost knocked her over. I was saved just in time. All our elephants 

 had been engaged with some of the wild ones, and had not been able to 

 help me, but Issamuttee's rider, a mere boy, called Choonoo, had got his 

 elephant free and had arrived just at the critical moment. I should say that 

 Eadhapeary had been occupied whilst all this went on in facing a young 

 tusker who seemed inclined to try his tusks upon her, and had she not kept 

 head on to him he doubtless would have done so ; so she had been unable 

 to pay attention to the attacking female, whom she could have overpowered 

 in a moment had she been free to do so. Wild elephants are soon overawed 

 by the pugilistic attainments of tame ones. The females in the herds have 

 few contentions amongst themselves : when they do quarrel they chiefly pun- 

 ish each other by biting off the ends of one another's tails. Consequently when 

 they are set upon and pummelled scientifically they soon give in. Eadha- 

 peary was a long, heavy, and powerful elephant, of the highest caste of 

 koomerialis. Her courage was equal to her strength, and her science to both. 

 She and another female actually killed outright a large muchia, or tuskless 

 male, on one occasion, by the squeezing and heavy battering they gave him. 

 The great point of science in a tame elephant in contending with others is 

 to overreach them by holding the head high. This is equivalent to the P.E. 

 movement of getting an opponent's head into chancery. If the wild ele- 

 phant were allowed to have its head above the tame one's the mahout might 

 be knocked off. 



I was obliged to leave the inside of the stockade after this misadventure, 

 as I felt sick and feared I might faint from the pain in my thigh. I was 

 not seriously hurt, but had a long cut and abrasion from the elephant's tush 

 from the hip nearly to the knee. The surface became rapidly extravasated, 

 and I was stiff and lame immediately. Eadhapeary's mahout now took my 

 place, and the troublesome elephant having been driven into a corner by the 

 tame ones was soon secured. She never gave any more trouble, and when 

 tamed was as quiet as the rest. When she was tied up the mahouts begged 

 leave to be allowed to thrash her well ! This was quite a native's idea. I 

 respected the poor beast for her courageous defence, and forbade her being- 

 molested. 



I had a bad night, as I could only lie on my right side, and in the 

 morning was unable to walk. However, I had a mattress put on Radha- 

 peary's pad on to which I was hoisted, and was soon inside the kheddah 

 again, though unable to take part in the catching. All our elephants had 

 arrived by this time — fifty in number — and they made short work of the 



