110 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



invited me to join him for a few days before I should meet Mr. 

 Sanderson at llohumari, about 38 miles below Dhubri, on the 

 Brahmaputra. I had a scratch pack of twelve elephants, including 

 some that had been sent forward from the keddahs, and others 

 kindly lent by the Ranee of Bijni. These raised our number into 

 a formidable line, excepting one huge male with long tusks belonging 

 to the Bijni Ranee, who was too savage to be trusted with other 

 elephants in company. This brute, as is not uncommon, combined 

 great ferocity with extreme nervousness. He had just destroyed 

 the howdah, which was smashed to atoms, as the animal had taken 

 fright at the crackling of flames when some one had ignited a patch 

 of long grass in the immediate neighbourhood. This had established 

 an immediate panic, and the elephant bolted at full speed, destroying 

 the howdah utterly beneath the branches of a tree ; fortunately 

 there was no occupant, or he would certainly have been killed. 

 The sound of fire is most trying to the nerves of elephants, but a 

 good shooting animal should be trained especially to bear with it ; 

 otherwise it is exceedingly dangerous. 



The Rajah's elephants were his peculiar enjoyment, and there 

 was the same difference in their general appearance, when compared 

 with the keddah elephants, as would be seen in a well-kept stable 

 of hunters and a team of ordinary farm-horses. At the same time 

 it must be remembered that Suchi Khan's elephants did no work, 

 but were kept solely for his amusement, while the keddah animals 

 had been working hard in the Garo Hills for many mouths upon 

 inferior food, engaged with their experienced superintendent Mr. 

 Sanderson in catching wild elephants. Nevertheless there was a 

 notable superiority in the Rajah's shikari animals, as they had been 

 carefully trained to the sport of tiger-hunting ; they marched with 

 so easy a motion that a person could stand upright in the howdah, 

 rifle in hand, without the necessity of holding the rail. They 

 appeared to glide instead of swaying as they moved, and in that 

 respect alone they exhibited immense superiority, the difficulty of 

 shooting with a rifle from the back of an elephant in motion being 

 extreme. Several of these elephants were so well trained that they 

 showed no alarm when a tiger was on foot, at which time an 

 elephant generally exhibits a tendency to nervousness, and cannot 

 be kept motionless by his mahout. 



A favourite shikar animal had been badly bitten by a tiger a 

 few* days before my arrival, and it was feared that she might 

 become shy upon the next encounter. Although the elephant is 

 enormous in weight and strength, the upper portion of the trunk 

 is much exposed, as it is the favourite .pot fur the tiger's attack, 



