Game Animals of India, etc. 



Peninsula, on August i8, 1899, is worthy of special 

 mention. According to an article in the Asian news- 

 paper, it seems that " the duel occurred in broad 

 daylight, and the elephant was the deliberate aggressor. 

 It appears that the engine-driver, seeing a big tusker 

 ahead on the permanent way, brought his train to a 

 standstill ; whereupon the tusker, encouraged by his 

 enemy's unwillingness to attack, took the offensive and 

 charged bravely, so bravely that he knocked his tusks 

 to pieces and injured his head, doing, as may be 

 supposed, commensurate damage to the engine. For 

 over an hour, says the storj^, the elephant held the 

 position, charging repeatedly ; when the driver backed 

 his engine the elephant stood aside, but the moment it 

 advanced he renewed the attack. A truly resolute 

 elephant this, for when he had battered his head sore 

 upon the engine, he turned his hind-quarters to it and 

 endeavoured thus to overcome it ! " 



Later on in the same article it is stated that "on the 

 night of September 16, 1892, an elephant, described 

 as ' not a very old one,' forced his way through the 

 fence near Okturn station on the Rangoon-Mandalay 

 Railway, and strolling up the embankment got upon 

 the metals just as the Mandalay mail came at full speed 

 round a curve. Probably he was utterly bewildered 

 by the rush and roar, with its accompaniment of blazing 

 lamp and spark-showers. At all events he stood his 

 ground and received the attack on his head, with the 

 result that his skull was literally shattered and his 

 carcase thrown over the embankment, the train passing 

 on its way without injury. The fact that the line ran 

 on the top of an embankment at the spot where this 

 encounter took place was probably an important factor 

 in securing the safety of the train. If the collision had 

 occurred in a narrow cutting the elephant's carcase 

 must have derailed the train, and caused a serious 

 accident. This recalls the railway accident on the 

 night of September 28, 1882. The Bengal-Nagpur 



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