THE TIGEE. 287 



is the girth of the forearm, which should measure about three 

 feet eight inches in an elephant nine feet high. A very tall ele- 

 phant is seldom a good working one, and generally has slow 

 rough paces ; so that in a male nine feet, or a female eight feet 

 four inches at the shoulder, should not be exceeded. A smaller 

 animal than eight feet two inches will be undersized for tiger- 

 shooting purposes. A female makes the best hunting-elephant 

 when she is really staunch with game, as her paces and temper 

 are generally better, and she is not subject to the danger of 

 becoming " must " and uncontrollable, as male elephants do 

 periodically after a certain age. But females are more un- 

 certain as to courage than males ; and it is a risk to buy the 

 former untried for shooting purposes. Most " muknas " (tusk- 

 less males) can, I believe, be relied on to become staunch with 

 tigers when properly trained and entered ; and for my own 

 part, if buying an entirely untried elephant, I would always 

 select a "mukna." They are generally more vigorous and 

 better developed than tuskers, though not usually so tall. A 

 not improbable explanation of this was given me by a wild 

 inhabitant of the forests to the east of the sources of the 

 Narbada, where wild elephants then existed in large numbers. 

 He said he had noticed that the young tuskers, after their sharp 

 little tusks began to prick the mother in the process of sucking, 

 were driven off by her and allowed to shift for themselves, 

 while females and muknas continued to be nourished by her 

 until she got another young one. 



After some trouble I bought the ten elephants I wanted 

 eight of them muknas and two females. Their average price 

 was 150, the dearest being 200, and the cheapest 100. 

 The highest price I heard of being obtained at the fair was 

 800 for a noble tusker, bought for a Raja' in the Punjab. 

 So far as I know, none of them had ever seen a tiger ; but they 



