78 The Life of an Elephant 



they were at the mercy of all the predatory 

 bands in the neighbourhood. It was but a 



o 



small number of such logs that the owner 

 retrieved. All had the ownership marks at once 

 removed, some were buried deep in the sand, to 

 be recovered at some convenient occasion, others 

 were hurriedly sawn up in concealed saw-pits, 

 so that identification became even more difficult. 



On the way down stream other rafts were 

 encountered, made up of thousands of bamboos 

 which floated more buoyantly than the timber ; 

 so that on these thatched cottages could be 

 erected, and children played joyously in the 

 railed-in decks. In the centre of these floating- 

 villages were mounds of rice, covered with 

 bamboo matting, the harvest from villages far 

 away in the north, its ultimate destination first 

 the husking mills of Rangoon, and then the 

 markets of Europe and England. 



After the rafts had been despatched, there 

 followed for our elephant a period of com- 

 parative rest from labour till the monotonous 

 march to the timber depot was completed ; but 

 during those two strenuous years he had become 



