238 RIFLE AXD SPEAR WITH THE RAJPOOTS. 



brought out, and, being let go some twenty yards apart, 

 charged straight at each other, their skulls meeting with 

 such a crash one would have thought they must have been 

 stunned. But when separated they both seemed anxious 

 for another round. Then two black bucks fought, seeming 

 to fence with their long horns, and endeavouring to entangle 

 one another's. They sometimes catch a wild buck by letting 

 loose a tame one with a. net or nooses on his horns. He 

 joins a herd, and at on<-e challenges the champion, whose 

 bonis arc caught in the snares, so that he is easily 

 captured. 



We were next taken to the elephant stables. There 

 must have been at least fifty enormous animals, most of 

 them picketed in lines outside. One, a very savage beast, 

 was fastened by chains round each of his legs. To give us 

 an idea of his ferocity, they placed a dummy man with a 

 mask like a Guy Fawkes on his back. No sooner did the 

 elephant feel it astride him than he put up his trunk, pulled 

 off the figure, and dashed it to the ground ; then, raising it, 

 he brought it down with a tremendous crash. He now 

 eyed it contemptuously for a moment, and. placing one huge 

 foot on the body, with his trunk tore off one by one the 

 less, arms, and head. It was rather ghastlv. The elephant 

 did it so slowly and deliberately, occasionally giving a shrill 

 shriek of rase. They told us that if a man got within reach 

 of his trunk he would kill him in precisely the same way. 



