82 THE CAMEL 



assist in extricating some camels who were being en- 

 gulfed in the quicksands, showed an amount of sagacity 

 which was positively marvellous ; a reasoning almost 

 equal to human, and only inferior to it because of its 

 inability to give expression to it in language, although 

 his actions and movements were a clear indication of 

 what was going on inwardly, and were evidently the 

 consequence of a train of thought followed out connect- 

 edly. It was with the utmost difficulty that we could 

 get him near enough to attach a drag rope to one 

 camel that I wanted to rescue. In spite of our being 

 about fifty yards from the bank of the river he evinced 

 the greatest anxiety, while his movements were made 

 with extreme caution. Despite coaxing, persuasion, 

 remonstrance, gentle admonition, ending finally in a 

 torrent of bad language and a shower of big blows 

 dealt mercilessly over his head by the exasperated ma- 

 hout, this elephant stubbornly refused to be guided by 

 his driver, and would not go where he was wanted, 

 but with his trunk shoved out in front of him he kept 

 feeling his way with his ponderous feet, placing them 

 before him very slowly, deliberately, and methodically, 

 treading all the while with the velvety softness of a cat, 

 and taking only one step at a time. Then suddenly he 

 would break out in a suppressed kind of shriek, evi- 

 dently a combined note of defiance and alarm, and 

 retreat backwards in great haste. This went on for 

 some time, and after several ineffectual attempts of the 

 kind, when the arm and patience of the mahout were 

 quite exhausted, and when the animal had nearly com- 

 pleted a circuit of the ground in the vicinity with the 

 same determined caution and deliberation, he advanced 



