Enchanting Moments. 17 



animals meet the ear. He stands upon a wilderness, 

 pathless and untrodden by the foot of civilization, where 

 no sound is ever heard but that of the elements, when 

 the thunder rolls among the towering forests or the 

 wind howls along the plains. He gazes far, far into 

 the distance, where the blue mountains melt into an in- 

 definite haze ; he looks above him to the rocky pinnacles 

 which spring from the level plain, their swarthy cliffs 

 glistening from the recent shower, and patches of rich 

 verdure clinging to precipices a thousand feet above 

 him. His eye stretches along the grassy plains, taking 

 at one full glance a survey of woods, and rocks, and 

 streams ; and imperceptibly his mind wanders to 

 thoughts of home, and in one moment scenes long left 

 behind are conjured up by memory, and incidents are 

 recalled which banish for a time the scene before him. 

 Lost for a moment in the enchanting power of solitude, 

 where fancy and reality combine in their most bewitch- 

 ing forms, he is suddenly roused by a distant sound 

 made doubly loud by the surrounding silence — the shrill 

 trumpet of an elephant. He wakes from his reverie ; 

 the reality of the present scene is at once manifested. 

 He stands within a wilderness where the monster of 

 the forest holds dominion ; he knows not what a 

 day, not even what a moment, may bring forth ; he 

 trusts in a protecting Power and in the heavy rifle, and 

 he is shortly upon the track of the king of beasts. 



The king of beasts is generally acknowledged to be 

 the " lion ;" but no one who has seen a wild elephant 

 can doubt for a moment that the title belongs to him in 

 his own right. Lord of all created animals in might 

 and sagacity, the elephant roams through his native 

 forests. He browses upon the lofty branches, upturns 

 2* B 



