in THE ELEPHANT 53 



of battle ; but elephants are useless against firearms, and in our 

 early battles with the great hordes brought against us by the 

 princes of India, their elephants invariably turned tail, and added 

 materially to the defeat of their army. 



Only a short time ago, at Munich, a serious accident was 

 occasioned by a display of ten or twelve elephants during some 

 provincial fete, when they took fright at the figure of a dragon 

 vomiting fire, and a general stampede was the consequence, 

 resulting in serious injuries to fifteen or sixteen persons. 



I once had an elephant who ought to have killed me upon 

 several occasions through sheer panic, which induced him to run 

 away like a railway locomotive rushing through a forest. This 

 was the tusker Lord Mayo, who, although a good-tempered harm- 

 less creature, appeared to be utterly devoid of nerves, and would 

 take fright at anything to which it was unaccustomed. The sound 

 of the beaters when yelling and shouting in driving jungle was 

 quite sufficient to start this animal off in a senseless panic, not 

 always for a short distance, as on one occasion it ran at full speed 

 for upwards of a mile through a dense forest, in spite of the 

 driving-hook of the mahout, which had been applied with a 

 maximum severity. 



It is curious to observe how all the education of an elephant 

 appears to vanish when once the animal takes fright and bolts for 

 the nearest jungle. That seems to be the one idea which is an 

 instinct of original nature, to retreat into the concealment of a 

 forest. 



I was on one occasion mounted upon Lord Mayo in the Balaghat 

 district when the beaters were not dependable. A tiger had killed 

 a bullock at the foot of a wooded hill bordered by an open plain. 

 As the beaters had misbehaved upon several occasions by breaking 

 their line, I determined to take command of the beat in person. I 

 therefore formed the line in the open, with every man equidistant, 

 there being about a hundred and twenty villagers. I had placed 

 my shikari with a rifle in a convenient position about 200 yards in 

 advance, upon a mucharn or platform that had been constructed 

 for myself. 



Having after some trouble arranged the beaters in a proper line, 

 I gave the order for an advance. In an instant the shouts arose, 

 and three or four tom-toms added to the din. 



I was mounted upon Lord Mayo near the centre of the line in 

 the open glade. No sooner had the noise begun, than a violent 

 panic seized this senseless brute, and without the slightest warning 

 it rushed straight ahead lor the thick forest at a pace that would 



