58 ELEPHANTS. 



soon as they were gone away, the elephant 

 allowed himself to be unloaded, and the kid was 

 found under the branches, as described by the 

 people. I learnt from my Sarcar, that similar 

 complaints had been made to him before, and 

 that the rascal of a Mahout made it a practice to 

 ride the elephant into the midst of a herd of goats, 

 and had taught him to pick up any of the young 

 ones he directed ; he had also accustomed him to 

 steal their pumpions and other vegetables that 

 grew against the inside of their fences, like French 

 beans, which could only be reached by an ele- 

 phant. He was the best Mahout I ever knew, 

 yet so great a rogue, that I was obliged to dis- 

 charge him. 



The very day that he left my service, the ele- 

 phant's eyes were closed, which he did not open 

 again in less than a fortnight, when it was disco- 

 vered that he was blind. Two small eschars, one 

 in each eye, were visible, which indicated pretty 

 strongly that he had been made blind by some 

 sharp instrument, most probably by a heated 

 needle. The suspicion was very strong against 

 the former keeper, of whom I never heard any 

 thing after. This elephant I frequently rode on, 

 shooting for many years after this, through heavy 



