76 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



self. When rushing an enemy, he trumpets shrilly; 

 when enraged by wounds, he grumbles hoarsely 

 from his throat ; he expresses fear by a shrill, brassy 

 trumpet and a roar; and pleasure by a continued 

 low squeaking through the trunk. When apprehen- 

 sive of danger or when attempting to intimidate 

 an enemy, he raps the end of his trunk smartly on 

 the ground and trumpets. The peculiar noise sounds 

 like that produced by the rolling up of a sheet of tin. 



In a moment of danger, the elephant coils his 

 trunk to protect it from injury. When he is en- 

 gaged in heavy work, such as piling lumber, he may 

 use his trunk to balance the load he is carrying on 

 his tusks, but never to bear part of the burden. If 

 an unharnessed elephant must pull a rope, he holds 

 it in his mouth, taking good care to keep his trunk 

 out of the way. It has happened many times that 

 an elephant-keeper not a trainer, for a trainer 

 knows better has used a hook a little too freely on 

 an elephant's trunk. If he doesn't get killed, he 

 picks himself up several yards from where he was 

 standing. A trainer is invariably pleased at such 

 an occurrence, because it shows that the keeper was 

 abusing the elephant and has merely received his 

 deserts. The elephant is a good, faithful animal, 

 and he does not attack his keeper without excuse, 

 except when he is in what is called the "must" 

 period, which I shall describe later. 



When the elephant is secured by hobbles, foot- 

 ropes and trunk-ropes, the bars leading from the 



