1 8 Wild Beasts 



a few hundred yards, and no faster. Its gait has been 

 similarly settled by several authorities. Dr. Living- 

 stone declares that the animal's "quickest pace is only a 

 sharp walk." Sanderson modifies this statement by say- 

 ing that the rapid walk " is capable of being increased to 

 a fast shuffle." He adds the information that "an elephant 

 cannot jump . . . can never have all four feet off the 

 ground at once . . . and can neither trot, canter, nor 

 gallop." Joseph Thomson, however ("Through Masai 

 Land "), saw one of these animals which he had wounded 

 on the plateau of Baringo, "go off in a sharp trot," and 

 Colonel Barras, while beating a clump of bushes for a 

 wounded tiger, rode his Shikar tusker Futteh Ali almost 

 over the concealed brute ; whereupon says Barras, " he 

 spun round with the utmost velocity and fled at a rapid 

 gallop. The pace was so well marked that it would be 

 useless, as far as I am concerned, for any one to say that 

 it was mechanically impossible for an elephant to use this 

 gait. To such learned objectors I would point out the fact 

 that impossibilities are of daily occurrence, and would fur- 

 ther beg them to suspend judgment till they have sat on 

 an elephant's neck with an enraged tiger roaring at his 

 heels." Much the same restriction has been placed by 

 some naturalists upon the camel's paces. Nevertheless, 

 Sir Samuel Baker and G. C. Stout were convinced that 

 they had seen camels trot, and the author is quite as cer- 

 tain as Colonel Barras could possibly be that he has known 

 them to gallop. 



It has been the fashion to praise these animals indis- 

 criminately. Among other things the silence maintained 



