BACK TO AFRICA. 163 



mous size and strength. From one of these gigantic 

 trunks, as a parent centre, the banyan reaches out its 

 arms, that droop until they touch the ground, take 

 root, and add new trees to the old. In this way I 

 have seen a whole forest grow fi'om three or four 

 banyan trunks, enlarging on the circumference, until 

 the circle reaches some insurmountable obstacle like a 

 lake, or river, or sandy waste. And so this banyan 

 that we were in had its offshoots in all directions, and 

 some twenty of them in the immediate neighborhood 

 almost as large as itself. The elephants soon recog- 

 nized their impotence in reaching us, and at a call 

 from their leader, drew off to consult. That they can 

 comnnmicate their ideas is certain, and was again 

 proved in this case, for after a time most of the herd 

 calmly turned their backs and started for the same 

 woods from which they had come. 



•' We are saved I " shouted I, joyfully. 



"Not yet. Sahib." 



"What do you mean ? They are giving it up." 



" But they leave eight guards to prison us here, until 

 we drop, from hunger and exhaustion, into their clutches ! 

 We are likely to end our days here." 



A shiver ran down my back as I saw his prophecy 

 fulfilled by eight great animals still lingering around 

 the tree, feeding on the clumps of fresh pasture and 

 green buds from the branches. Every now and then 

 they came nearer, and raising their trunks in anger 



