JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. 63 



The park was first discovered by the above-named 

 officer, Major R., during one of his many rambles 

 after elephants, and so supernaturally wild and beau- 

 tiful was its appearance as it suddenly burst upon him 

 after an uninteresting scramble through a monotonous 

 description of jungle, that, to use his own words, he 

 remained some minutes as if spell-bound, nor would 

 he have been more entranced had he discovered a 

 colony of those little demi-immortals, that came in and 

 went out with the " Arabian Nights," in comfortable 

 possession of the scene. 



It was many years after its first discovery that I 

 had an opportunity of visiting the place, and any 

 thing more beautiful I certainly never beheld ; its 

 extent was incomprehensible to the eye, and one 

 might wander on on on from morn till eve, still 

 there was the same view before him, with the tall 

 blue mountains in the distance ; but if the prospect 

 alone produced such an agreeable surprise to the dis- 

 coverer, judge of his amazement and delight, when, 

 on penetrating further into it, he found it actually 

 dotted in all directions by innumerable herds of ele- 

 phants ; some reclining under the shade of the forest 

 trees, whilst others were laving their huge carcases 

 in a broad river that ran through the place. 



" Here will I build unto myself an habitation," 

 was his first ejaculation ; and on that spot does the 

 house stand to this very hour (that is to say, if the 

 elephants have not wreaked their revenge on it since 



