364 THE ELEPHANT. [Part VIII. 



some submitted with comparatively little resistance ; 

 whilst others in their fury dashed themselves on the 

 ground Avith a force sufficient to destroy any weaker 

 animal. They vented theii^ rage upon every tree and 

 plant witliin reach ; if small enough to be torn down, 

 they levelled them with their trunks, and stripped them 

 of then- leaves and branches, which they tossed wildly 

 over their heads on all sides. Some in their struggles 

 made no sound, whilst others bellowed and trumpeted 

 fiu-iously, then uttered short convulsive screams, and at 

 last, exhausted and hopeless, gave vent to their anguish 

 in low and piteous moanings. Some, after a few \iolent 

 efforts of this kind, lay motionless on the ground, with no 

 other indication of suffering than the tears which suf- 

 fused their eyes and flowed incessantly. Others in all 

 the vigour of then" rage exhibited the most surprising 

 contortions ; and to us who had been accustomed to 

 associate with the umvieldy bidk of the elephant the idea 

 that he must of necessity be stiff and inflexible, the atti- 

 tudes into which they forced themselves were ahnost 

 incredible. I saw one lie with the cheek pressed to the 

 earth and the fore-legs stretched in front, whilst the body 

 was tmsted round till the hind-legs extended at the 

 opposite side. 



It was astonishing that their trunks was not wounded 

 by the violence with which they flung them on aU sides. 

 One twisted his proboscis into such fantastic shapes, that 

 it resembled the writhings of a gigantic worm ; he coiled 

 it and uncoiled it with restless rapichty, curhng it up hke 

 a watch-spring, and suddenly unfolding it again to its full 

 length. Another, which lay otherwise motionless in all 

 the stupor of hopeless anguish, slowly beat the ground 

 with the extremity of his trunk, as a man in despair beats 

 his knee with his open palm. 



They displayed an amount of sensitiveness and de- 

 hcacy of touch in the foot, wliich was very remarkable in 

 a hmb of such clumsy dimensions and protected by so 

 thick a covering. The noosers could always force them 



