246 TIGER AND ELEPHANT COMPARED. 



like the wasp^ whose colours are shuilar, it bears the 

 marks of malignity in its outward appearance, which 

 serve to deter the spectator from any further ac- 

 quaintance than a very distant view. Whilst we 

 admire, we dread ; and never desire to admit him as 

 an inmate, but in the character of a slave, or a cap- 

 tive confined in a dungeon. How different is the 

 powerful, half-reasoning elephant ! — he is so useful, 

 intelligent, and amiable, that he is treated with the 

 kindness due to a valuable friend, which he returns 

 wqth a fidelity and gratitude worthy of man himself. 

 Take the following story as an instance of these qua- 

 lities. 



An elephant, which had been kept tame for some 

 years, got loose during a stormy night, and rambled 

 into his native jungles. Four years had nearly elaps- 

 ed, when a large drove of these animals were trapped 

 into an enclosure called a keddah. It happened that 

 the keeper of the stray elephant was one amongst 

 many that ascended the barricade of timber by which 

 the keddah was surrounded, to inspect the prize they 

 had taken. This man fancied he saw one amongst 

 the new-caught elephants, that bore such a resem- 

 blance to his former charge, that he could not help 

 suspecting that he had found his long-lost favourite. 

 His comrades laughed at the idea, but no ridicule 

 could deter him from calling it by the name of his 



