CHAPTER IV 



ELEPHANTS, HOWDAH, AND MAHOUTS 



MAHOUTS are the best abused servants in India, not 

 altogether undeservedly, but I do not think due allowance is 

 made for all they have to go through. They are very apt, 

 unless well looked after, to allow an elephant to forage for 

 himself, rather than be at the trouble of bringing in his charah 

 or green food, of which he requires fully six hundred pounds 

 a day, and afterwards bathing his elephant, and securely 

 tethering him. If this is not insisted upon, the elephant will 

 either get no food, or, in wandering about in search of it, he 

 will destroy property for which you will have to pay fourfold, 

 and he will also stray away and not be caught till late next 

 morning. 



But mahouts have their good points. They are, as a rule, 

 plucky, being principally Moslems ; and as such, fatalists. It 

 must be remembered the sportsman, safely ensconced in the 

 howdah, runs or incurs little risk, while the mahout, sitting on 

 the elephant's neck, with his legs dangling down, is in very 

 great danger from a charging tiger. He is unarmed, save 

 with his driving-hook guzbuz ; and the frequency of accidents 

 proves that his berth is not a sinecure. The friction caused 

 by sitting on the animal's neck, perhaps for twelve hours on 

 stretch, is excessive. He also gets bitten by numerous 

 gadflies and mosquitoes, and is exposed to the sun all day, 

 and he has perhaps to readjust your howdah several times 

 during the day, if it gets out of the perpendicular, as is but 

 too often the case. Being in a crooked howdah is not only 

 misery to the rider, but it is impossible to feel at home, and to 

 be able to shoot correctly when you are lopsided. 



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