180 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



progress ; and yet there is not a case on record where one 

 of them has attempted to return to his free life in the 

 forest, or rejoin his former companions enjoying them- 

 selves in the neighboring ravines, while he is working 

 hard on the hills above. Indeed, they grow to hate their 

 untamed cousins, and fight them — and usually success- 

 fully — at every opportunity, bearing them away in 

 bondage to their masters. 



The English have made use of their enormous strength 

 in all the wars in India and, more recently, in Africa, 

 where without them the troops would have been helpless 

 to move the artillery, even the lighter j^ieces, which these 

 dumb allies carried bravely into action on their backs, 

 while their courage under fire has been attested by special 

 mention in reports from the English officers. One of 

 them says : — 



" In our marches across Bengal we used elephants in the 

 baggage train, so well disposed to us that, without waiting 

 for a command from the keeper, if a wagon stuck, one of 

 them would hurry up, put his mighty shoulder to the 

 wheel, and never rest till it was rolling on smoothly again. 

 Then he would return to his own proper place and duty 

 in the line again. One morning, in the press of wagons 

 and animals, one of the elephants was hurt by the heavy 

 wheel of a cart running over his foot. I happened to be 

 near, and bound it up with a towel dipped in camphorated 

 brandy, and tightened the bandage as well as I could, and 

 off he limped to his stable. In the afternoon I went to 



