A VICIOUS ELEPHANT 129 



fall off again as rapidly when these stimulants are discon- 

 tinued and the beast is worked. 



Some elephants are vicious by nature those born in a state 

 of captivity more than those caught wild ; the former, whilst 

 losing their dread of man, get treacherous and almost useless 

 for sport or for ordinary traffic, owing to their fears of all wild 

 beasts, which those caught have been used to. When D'Oyly 

 and I lived together at Tongho, he used to hire elephants in 

 preference to indenting on the commissariat for them, for his 

 jungle trips. One beast he hired was particularly vicious ; he 

 had killed several mahouts, and at last ran away into the 

 jungles, became quite wild, and did a great deal of damage to 

 the crops, so a reward was offered for his death. 



As he haunted the jungles in the vicinity of Tongho many 

 officers went for him, but though he was frequently wounded, 

 no one succeeded in producing his tail ; but he suddenly 

 disappeared, and every one who had fired at him claimed 

 having killed him. Nothing was heard of him for a good six 

 months, and the ryots had peace, and supposed that he had 

 either died in the remoter jungles or had wandered away 

 elsewhere. After the epidemic, placards were posted at the 

 Cutcherie that all elephants brought in and passed if 

 moderately cheap would be purchased : so good, bad, and 

 indifferent were brought in for sale. I was always looking at 

 them, taking an interest in all animals, and elephants in 

 particular. Amongst those for sale was a sleepy-looking brute 

 with lumps about his head which looked suspiciously like 

 embedded bullets, and he moreover reminded me of the one 

 D'Oyly used to hire. (He, poor fellow, was no more.) I 

 spoke to Mackellar, advising him to have nothing to do with 

 the brute in question, but he did not know one beast from 

 another, and moreover was completely under the thumb of his 

 head Gomashta, a Madrassie, a very able man, who had all 

 the Burmese in that part of Burma in the palm of his hand, 

 and said he would cause inquiries to be made. Armagum, 

 the Gomashta in question, said I was altogether mistaken, the 

 elephant was well known, very quiet (too quiet, I thought), and 

 ridiculously cheap. So he was bought and taken off to the 

 Pheel Khanah. In a few days he began to show signs of vice, 



