32 THE KING'S MAHOUT 



form which contains the royal box, and other more 

 democratic accommodations for natives of nobility 

 and foreigners. There are two entrances to the en- 

 closure, both guarded by very strong heavy timber 

 gates hung on pins from crossbeams above, which, 

 closed, reach below the ground level, where they 

 fit into a groove. Opened, they make an inverted 

 V, just large enough to permit the passage of one 

 elephant at a time. 



The attitude of a herd on first realizing that it 

 has been trapped and cannot escape, varies accord- 

 ing to the temperaments of its members, and is 

 enlightening, not to say enlivening, at times, to 

 the onlooker. For the herd, which without serious 

 opposition has permitted itself to be taken from 

 its jungle and driven, uttering scarcely an objec- 

 tion through days and nights, will, when once in 

 the kraal, throw off its good manners and become 

 rampant. Some fight the posts, some fight one 

 another; in groups they surge against the stout 

 sides of the enclosure, grunting prodigiously, and 

 wherever a venturesome spectator shows a head 

 between the post, he is charged. Not all the herd 

 are so violent. Some show their perturbation by 

 thrusting their trunks down into their stomach res- 

 ervoir and drawing forth watex which they squirt 

 over their backs; others express contempt for 

 things generally by making little dust piles which 



