TIGERLAND 



one of their tarpaulin tent-like shelters a mahout 

 came out, and, throwing another branch or two to his 

 particular animal, a huge tusker, sauntered off in the 

 direction of the bazaar the favourite afternoon resort of 

 all his kind. 



Some half an hour later another figure emerged from 

 the shelter this time a woman, and presumably the wife, 

 carrying an infant in her arms. Going close up to the 

 " tusker," she made it a low " salaam," and, putting the 

 child down before it, "salaamed" again; then, spreading 

 a blanket she had with her on the ground, placed the sleeping 

 infant in the centre of it and well within reach of the 

 animal's proboscis, and " salaaming " again, but more 

 ostentatiously, went off in the direction taken by her 

 husband. 



Presently the child awoke, and after a while, com- 

 menced crawling towards the edge of the blanket, seemingly 

 unnoticed by the elephant, but had hardly gone a foot or 

 two when the huge beast, stretching out its trunk, gently 

 pulled it back into its original position. The child, 

 apparently not in the least alarmed, lay still for a time, but 

 soon attempted another excursion, though with no better 

 success, for out stretched the trunk again, and as gently 

 as before drew back the would-be explorer to its place. 

 Again and again did the latter, with infantile persistence, 

 attempt to extend the sphere of its investigations to realms 

 beyond the limit of its blanket, but only to be replaced by 

 its watchful guardian on the spot whence it had started 

 till, as if realizing the unequalness of the contest, it 

 abandoned its attempts at exploration, and lying quiet 

 for a while gazing up at its huge nurse, finally dropped off 

 to sleep again. 



The mother returning shortly afterwards, picked her 

 infant up again, and, with a final but more emphatic 

 salutation to the elephant, as if in acknowledgment 

 of the service it had rendered, retired into the shelter. 

 Obviously the animal had " done this trick " before, 

 but how had it been taught to perform it independently, 

 without word of command ? The mahout's explanation 

 that both he and his wife having known the beast so long, 

 it understood all they said, hardly solved the problem, for 

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