JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. 47 



considerably earlier by the sound of an elephant 

 pulling and tugging away at one of the verandah 

 posts, the denouement to which amusement there is 

 every reason to believe that five minutes more in- 

 dustry will most satisfactorily (on the animal's part) 

 accomplish. 



This may be more exciting than agreeable ; for, if 

 one remains in bed, the chances are twenty to one 

 that the whole roof will incontinently come down 

 upon him ; and should he summon courage to go out 

 in the dark in hopes of a random shot, the chances 

 are just as great that he takes the place of the before- 

 mentioned persecuted verandah-post, or perpetrates a 

 nocturnal elopement to the jungle in an elephantine 

 embrace. 



There is a peculiar wildness of fragrance about the 

 jungle at the first break of day; the heavy dew of the 

 night standing in large drops on every atom of foliage 

 seems to distil the very essence of the herbage on 

 which it has alighted, and as the sun evaporates the 

 dew, the fragrance it has absorbed appears to be let 

 loose on the atmosphere ; the lemon-grass is parti- 

 cularly oppressive in this way, being more like 

 essence of verbena than any thing else I can just now 

 remember. 



The route that we take to-day differs from our 

 previous one up the same mountain, for, being in 

 search of elk, we must explore the more precipitous 

 and craggy localities ; therefore, diverging at once 



