Evening Scene. 1 1 7 



the hunters resumed their original position. The chief 

 headman came forward and accounted for the freak by 

 saying that a wild pig,' an animal which the elephants are 

 said to dislike, had started out of the cover and run 

 across the leader, who would otherwise have held on 

 direct for the corral ; and intimated that as the herd was 

 now in the highest pitch of excitement ; and it was at all 

 times much more difficult to effect a successful capture by 

 daylight than by night, when the fires and flambeaux act 

 with double eff"ect, it was the wish of the hunters to defer 

 their final eff"ort till the evening, when the darkness would 

 greatly aid their exertions. 



After sunset the scene exhibited was of extraordinary 

 interest ; the low fires, which had apparently only smoul- 

 dered in the sunlight, assumed their ruddy glow amidst 

 the darkness, and threw their tinge over the groups col- 

 lected round them ; while the smoke rose in eddies 

 through the rich foliage of the trees. The crowds of 

 spectators maintained a profound silence, and not a sound 

 was perceptible louder than the hum of an insect. On 

 a sudden the stillness was broken by the distant roll of a 

 drum, followed by a discharge of musketry. This was 

 the signal for the renewal of the assault, and the hunters 

 entered the circle with yells and clamour ; dry leaves and 

 sticks were flung upon the watch-fires till they blazed 

 aloft, and formed a line of flame on every side, except in 



' Fire, the sound of a horn, and the Wvp ti TTToetTai kox Kpiov KepacT<f>cp(it', 



grunting of a boar are the three things Kal toji/ ixovimv rriv /Soiji/ ttji' aGpoav. 

 which the Greeks, in the middle ages, Phile, Expositio de Elefhantt', 



beUeveri the elephant specially to i. 177. 



dislike : 



