192 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



couple of hundred yards separated us, and then 

 stopped a long time under a tree to pull down a 

 hanging creeper. The whole operation was marvel- 

 lously distinct. We could hear the branches shake, 

 and bend, and creak, as the animal tugged at the 

 creeper's stem, and then the creeper's hold would 

 give a little, its tendrils would release some part 

 of their clutch of the leaves and twigs of the tree, 

 and the tearing and rending of the severance was 

 followed by the elephant's slow munching of the 

 lower part of the creeper until it had eaten up as 

 far as it could reach and began again to pull down 

 more. While this was going on, a couple of bears 

 passed by " woofing " to one another as they shambled 

 hurriedly through the forest in search of food. Soon 

 afterwards the elephant stopped feeding, and moved 

 away. I do not know whether a treacherous slant 

 of air gave it our wind, whether the smell of the 

 bears offended it, or whether it wished to seek a 

 fresh pasture. At all events, we heard it no more, 

 and after a while returned through the darkness to 

 the house-boat. 



Before sunrise the next morning we were back at 

 the ford, and picked up the elephant's tracks at the 

 place where we had heard it feeding the night before. 

 There was nothing to show that it had been alarmed 

 in any way : it had walked slowly away, feeding as 

 it went. I had often seen the Blat Elephant's tracks 

 before, but the fresh deep prints with the clean cut 

 impress of the toes always struck me with an ever 

 new feeling of the hugeness of the animal. We fol- 

 lowed the tracks through fairly open forest, passing 



