1 68 The Life of an Elephant 



to scour himself out ; he expends his super- 

 fluous energies in destroying trees and up- 

 rooting bamboos, and soon regains his evenness 

 of temper. In confinement none of these re- 

 medies are available, and he often goes from 

 bad to worse, ultimately to be butchered with 

 volleys of bullets, when one well-directed shot 

 would have ended his career. 



Kareem, the mahout, in daily intercourse 

 with his charge, noticed an unevenness of temper, 

 a loss of appetite, a repugnance for the three 

 hours' sleep which the healthy elephant permits 

 to himself; and lastly, the discharge from the 

 temporal gland which is a certain, though not con- 

 stant, sign of this distemper. He strengthened 

 the shackles of his charge and gave him cool- 

 ing medicines ; but even he had never seen 

 the strength of Maula Bux exerted to the full. 

 In the early morning hours, when all slept, the 

 devil entered into the body of Maula Bux, who 

 with one mighty wrench burst the chains that 

 held his hind-legs in tether, and then placing 

 his hind- foot on the shackles between his fore- 

 legs tore them asunder as if made of whipcord 



