IN THE JUNGLE 15 



This particular jungle contained little game ; as, 

 indeed, was natural from its situation. Among its 

 woodland burghers, however, were a very curious 

 family — a herd of dwarf elephants. I never molested 

 them ; and I may say that I grew to a certain extent 

 familiar with them, so often did I watch them, for 

 perhaps an hour at a time, from the cover of a tree- 

 trunk well to leeward. The herd at the time 

 numbered seven individuals, of all ages apparently, 

 but not one amonof them reached the heio-ht of seven 

 feet. I attribute the fact to in-breeding only. A 

 great extent of open and cultivated country severed 

 their home from any other jungles, and it is my 

 belief that they or their forebears had been entirely 

 separated from all intercourse with their kind for 

 perhaps a century, or even more. The one calf which 

 at the time accompanied the herd was a truly comical 

 little object, and I greatly coveted its possession. If 

 my theory was correct, it w^ould probably never reach 

 the height of six feet. The nature of their surround- 

 ings had also affected the habits of the herd. Although 

 they were neighbours to miles of rice grounds, plan- 

 tain patches, and so forth, they were essentially 

 jungle elephants, and I never heard of their making 

 a foray even upon the most accessible and unprotected 

 crops. Yet their fear of man was less developed by 

 far than that of the ordinary herd-elephant. Although 

 it was only necessary for me to show myself to put 

 them to flight, it never seemed to me that their retreat 

 was quite the headlong rush of the elephants of the 

 great forests of the east coasts. 



Of these forests — and of other jungles in Continen- 

 tal India with which I have since become acquainted 

 — I do not here intend to write, for two reasons. 



