92 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



it is time to stop work and eat. It makes no differ- 

 ence if they have a log within a fraction of an inch 

 of the platform; the boss drops his anchor chain 

 and gets out of the way, and the pushers step to one 

 side, letting the log crash down again. Then, with- 

 out the least expression of interest, they turn for 

 the stalls. Because they obey signals so mechanical- 

 ly, the engineer steps out, when feeding-time comes, 

 and looks up and down the runway to see if an 

 elephant crew has a log on the skids. If so, he waits 

 until it reaches the platform before he pulls the 

 whistle-cord. 



The great weight and bulk of elephants some- 

 times make difficult the problem of handling and 

 especially of shipping them. They are usually 

 hoisted over the side of the ship in slings, but that 

 method takes much time and labor, not to speak of 

 very strong tackle. I did not evolve a new one, how- 

 ever, until the refusal of the captain of one of the 

 British India Steam Navigation Company's boats 

 to take a consignment of elephants for me put my 

 ingenuity to the test. 



I was under contract to send fifteen large ele- 

 phants to Madras, and I had arranged with the com- 

 pany's agent at Singapore for three shipments of 

 five each. The animals were the remainder of the 

 Trengganu herd and I was anxious to see them 

 shipped, for I was still sick with the fever. The 

 doctors had told me that the best thing I could do 

 was to leave the country and recuperate, and any 



