J36 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Humorous revenge. 



towards him, lifted him up with his trunk, and 

 plunged him several times in the river; after 

 which he drew him out, leaving him to be laughed 

 at by the spectators. 



Captain Hamilton observes, that, when he was 

 at Achen, in the island of Sumatra, he saw an 

 elephant that had been kept there above an hun- 

 dred } T ears, and by report was then three hun- 

 dred years old ; he was about eleven feet high, 

 and remarkable for his extraordinary sagacity, of 

 which he gives an instance in a laughable piece 

 of revenge. " In 16Q2," says he, " a ship, named 

 the Dorothy, commanded by Captain Thwaits, 

 called at Achen for refreshments, and two Eng- 

 lish gentlemen in that city went on board to fur- 

 nish themselves with such European necessaries 

 as they had occasion for; and, amongst other 

 things, they bought some Norwich stuffs for; 

 clothes, and, there being no English taylor to be 

 had, they employed a Surat, who kept a shop in 

 the great market-place, and had commonly seve- 

 ral workmen sewing in his shop. It was the 

 elephant's custom to reach in his trunk at the 

 doors or windows as he passed along the side of 

 the street, as begging for the decayed fruits and 

 joots, which the inhabitants generally gave him. 

 One morning, as he was going to the river to be 

 washed, with his rider on his back, he happened 

 to put his trunk in at the taylor's window, and 

 the taylor, instead of giving him what he wanted, 

 pricked him with his needle. The elephant 



