76 The Ulld Elephant. 



failing in all this, and seeing a pile of timber, \rhich I had 

 lately cut, at a short distance from us, he removed it all 

 (thirty-six pieces) one at a time to the root of the tree, and 

 piled them up in a regular business-like manner ; then 

 placing his hind feet on this pile, he raised the fore part of 

 his body, and reached out his tnmk, but still he could not 

 touch us, as we were too far above him. The Englishman 

 then tired, and the ball took effect somewhere on the ele- 

 phant's head, but did not kill him. It made him only the 

 more furious. The next shot, however, levelled him to the 

 ground. I after^vards brought the skull of the animal to 

 Colombo, and it is still to be seen at the house of Mr. 

 Armitage." 



4. " One night a herd of elephants entered a village in the 

 Four Corles. After doing considerable injun,- to plaintain 

 bushes and young coco-nut trees, they retired, the villagers 

 being unable to do am-thing to protect their fruit trees from 

 destruction. But one elephant was left behind, who con- 

 tinued to scream the whole night through at the same spot. 

 It was then discovered that the elephant, on seeing a jak 

 fnut on a tree somewhat beyond the reach of his trunk, 

 had raised himself on his hind legs, placing his fore feet 

 against the stem, in order to lay hold of the fruit, but 

 unluckily for him there happened to be another tree standing 

 so close to it that the vacant space between the two stems 

 was only a few inches. During his attempts to take hold 

 of the fruit one of his legs happened to get in between the 

 two trees, where, on account of his weight and his clumsy 

 attempts to extricate himself, it got so fimily wedged that 

 he could not remove it. and in this awkward position he 

 remained for some days, till he died on the spot." 



