96 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 



overboard. They hit the water with a great splash 

 and a roar and came up blowing like whales. They 

 were swimming, of course, for elephants swim bet- 

 ter than any other land animals I have ever seen. 

 The attendants approached them in rowboats, and, 

 jumping on their backs, rode them to shore. By 

 the time they reached land, they had completely 

 recovered from the excitement of falling overboard. 



The captain returned to Singapore, enthusiastic 

 over this new way of handling elephants, and I had 

 the pleasure of shipping my last consignment to 

 Madras on his ship. He advised me never to take 

 an agent's word for what the captain of a ship will 

 or will not do, and after that experience, I always 

 saw the captain first and the agent second. 



In collecting and trapping of wild animals one 

 must not think that all animals so caught are fit 

 for zoological or show purposes. Such is not the 

 case ; often after trailing animals for days and after 

 having trapped them, I found them old, scarred, 

 mangey, with broken tails and in numerous ways 

 unfit, and although I rarely killed, except in self- 

 preservation, I would kill off all such as were not fit. 



All animals I sold and shipped were at the time 

 of embarkment, healthy, sound and in good con- 

 dition. As I never carried with my outfit any 

 preparation for the curing of skins, I usually al- 

 lowed the natives to have them, although I often 

 presented good specimens to the Raffles Museum 

 at Singapore that were mounted and catalogued 



