80 WILD DEASTS AND TJ1KIR WAYS CHAP. 



a-ssured me that the elephant was dependable ; I accordingly 

 accepted him, and he wan ordered to carry the howdah throughout 

 the expedition. 



In a very short exjterieucc we discovered the necessity of giving 

 lliflgauin a wide Ijerth, as he would fling out his trunk with ex- 

 treme quickness to strike a person within his reach, and he would 

 kick out sharply with his hind leg whenever a native ventured to 

 approach his rear. He took a fancy to me, as I fed him daily 

 with sugar-canes, jaggery, and native chupatties (cakes), which 

 quickly established an understanding between us ; but I always 

 took the precaution of standing by his side instead of in his front, 

 and of resting my left hand upon his tusk while I fed him with 

 the right. Every morning at daylight he was brought to the tent 

 with Demoiselle (the female elephant), and they both received from 

 my own hands the choice bits which gained their confidence. 



My suspicions were first aroused by his peculiar behaviour upon 

 an occasion when we had killed two tigers; these were young 

 animals, and although large, there was no difficulty in arranging 

 them upon the pad, upon which they were secured by ropes, when 

 the elephant kneeling down was carefully loaded. Hardly had 

 Uisgaum risen to his feet, when, conscious of the character of the 

 animals upon his back, and, I suppose, not quite certain that life 

 was actually extinct, he trumpeted a shrill scream, and shook his 

 immense carcase like a wet dog that has just landed from the 

 water. This effect was so violent that one tiger was thrown some 

 yards to the right, while the other fell to the ground on the left, 

 and without a moment's warning, the elephant charged the lifeless 

 body, sent it flying by a kick with his fore foot, and immediately pro- 

 ceeded to dance a war-dance, kicking with his hind legs to so great 

 a height that he could have reached a tall man's hat. A vigorous 

 application of the driving-hook by the mahout, who was a powerful 

 man, at length changed the scene, and the elephant at once de- 

 sisted from his attack upon the dead tiger, and rushed madly upon 

 one side, where he stood nervously looking at the enemy as though 

 he ex|>ected it would show signs of life. 



This did not look promising for an encounter with a live tiger, 

 as it would have been absolutely impossible to shoot from that 

 eU-phant's back. 



A short time after this occurrence, when upon my usual re- 

 connaissance through the jungles in the neighbourhood of thei 

 camp, I came upon the fresh tracks of a large tiger close to the 

 banks of the iJcanni river, and I gave the necessary instructions 

 that a buffalo should be tied up as a bait that same eveninf. 



