chap. ix. RETURN TO THE PARK COUNTRY. 213 



menced the arduous task of driving him towards the 

 village, a distance of five miles. The only method of 

 getting him along, was to keep two men to tease him 

 in front, by shouting and waving cloths before his 

 face ; he immediately charged these fellows, who, of 

 course, ran in the right direction for the village, 

 and by this repeated manoeuvre we reached the borders 

 of the tank by nightfall. We were still at least two 

 miles from the village, and we were therefore obliged 

 to tie him to a tree for the night. The next morning 

 we succeeded in driving him to the village. He was 

 a fine elephant, but not full grown, and for this reason 

 he had been selected from the herd for capture, as they 

 are more valuable at this particular period of their 

 growth, being easily rendered docile. He was about 

 sixteen years of age ; and by starving for two days, 

 and subsequent gentle treatment, the natives mounted 

 and rode him on the third day of his capture, taking 

 the precaution, however, of first securing his trunk. 

 This elephant was then worth fifteen pounds to be 

 sold to the Arabs for the Indian market. 



After a stay of a few days in this neighbourhood, 

 during which we had good sport in elephant-shooting, 

 we returned to the Park country. The first evening 

 of our return, we heard elephants roaring in the jungle 

 within a short distance of the tent. At daybreak the 

 next morning we were on their tracks, and after a 

 walk of five miles we found them in thick thorny 



