In Training for Work 83 



unknown sickness ; yet it seems but justice 

 that in these days when sentimentality is rife, 

 some comparison should be suggested between 

 the treatment of a criminal, who perhaps has 

 been for years a terror to his fellow-men, and 

 that meted out to an animal which has done 

 no harm ; and that the attitude of either to- 

 wards their gaolers may be noted when 

 condemned to loss of liberty and to penal 

 servitude. Perhaps, if a useful life is to be 

 commended, an animal may show to advantage 

 over many human beings. 



Mention has been made of sudden unknown 

 sickness, and it may be remarked that cases 

 of poisoning of elephants, even by their own 

 mahouts, are not of such rarity as to cause 

 surprise. Nothing is easier than to administer 

 a fatal dose to an animal which places such 

 implicit trust in man ; arsenic concealed in a 

 banana is readily swallowed, and proof of the 

 crime is difficult. A mahout who had abused 

 his authority, and went in consequence in fear 

 of his life, has been known to take this way of 

 escape ; while another, jealous of the promotion 



