

1 76 ELEPHANTS. 



middle of the day. At the end of an hour we reached the 

 brink of a stream running through a tract of bamboos, the 

 foot prints led down to a salt lick in the steep bank over- 

 hanging the water ; this had delayed him for a consider- 

 able time, he had wandered about and returned to it again, 

 and the red earth bore tracks which proved he was no 

 muckna, but a fine tusker, as my hand could fit easily into 

 the grooves made by his tusks in the soft clay. Thence 

 for another hour we pushed along quickly through the 

 bamboos, finding at intervals remains of sprouts which 

 had been devoured by him, some portions being over six 

 feet long, and as thick as a man's leg. This was a good 

 omen, as it signified delay, although on the other hand the 

 fragments were covered with small insects, and the beetles 

 had raised great mounds of earth close by the droppings. 

 Into the latter Atlay would thrust his foot, and after 

 remaining pensive for some seconds would murmur 

 " ratri " (last night) in a despairing way, which made me 

 long for Pochello, or Kistiah, or Baloo, or any of the 

 plucky and sanguine Deccan shikaries, instead of this 

 listless aborigine. On leaving the bamboos we entered an 

 open part of the forest, with thick patches of cannse dotted 

 about, and encountered a sow with a litter, which not only 

 barred the way, but twice charged up to within twenty 

 yards without any provocation, for we had halted directly 

 we saw her. However, she retired after the second demon- 

 stration, stopping at intervals and trotting back to see that 

 we had not moved. 



These beasts are a horrid nuisance when stalking, but it 

 is better to be bullied by them than to alarm the jungle 

 by firing. An hour later, we were stepping over the 

 trunk of a large tree, which had been partly burnt, and I 

 was pointing out to Atlay that some ashes which had 



