FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 237 



still moving and breathing. Every effort to dig him out 

 proved vain. 



An elephant is apparently never tired, and maintains 

 a steady rate of progress over all sorts of ground — about 

 five miles an hour. Small elephants can shuffle along 

 much faster than a big one, and are much more comfort- 

 able to ride, the motion being less rolling. It is a great 

 comfort, if one wishes to get home rapidly, to quit the 

 howdah and mount a small, smooth-running pad elephant 

 kept for the purpose. 



There is no lack of variety in the day's march, which is 

 generally pretty continuous, only interrupted by a mid- 

 day tiffin under some shady trees and near to clear 

 running water. The line of the Himalayas is always in 

 sight. One can see the snow-white peaks of Dawalagiri 

 and Mount Everest, the highest mountains of the world. 

 In the foreground there are huts of the natives, who herd 

 cattle and cultivate small patches of grain. These huts, 

 in which they remain at night for fear of wild animals, 

 are of strange appearance, being mounted on poles some 

 20 feet high, with a ladder to ascend. Herds of black 

 tame buffaloes are dotted over the plain. It is easy to 

 distinguish the arna, or wild buffalo, from the tame, as 

 the former are double the size, and their horns are pointed 

 straight out, with an upturned curve like a crescent moon. 

 Those of the tame buffalo are much smaller, and are 

 pointed from the apex of the skull backwards and down, 

 before curving up at the side of the neck. 



The arna is very different from most wild animals, 

 which naturally hide as much as possible from man. He 

 does not fear men, and will remain grazing within a few 

 hundred yards of a man, and if interfered with will move 

 off in a slow and sulky manner, or, if his animosity is 

 roused, he will come straight on and charge and crush to 



