ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 35 



he fell to considering his next move. Drawing a stone 

 towards him with the ever-handy trunk he got it under the 

 empty sack, and worked both together under the man's 

 head ; he then stealthily withdrew his own propping foot, 

 and having waited no longer than was necessary to make 

 sure he had left all safe, he moved off. The man never 

 stirred, and no doubt slept till morning, so we did not see 

 his consternation, comical as that must have been. His 

 loss was, of course, made good to him, though we told no 

 tales. 



An elephant will never tread on any of the miscellaneous 

 camp belongings lying about ; if any are on the path he 

 picks them up or pushes them aside, injuring nothing. 

 One did that while I was riding him, without my noticing, 

 till I saw the sackful of weighty copper pots he had lifted and 

 placed on the bank. 



On one occasion we saw a mahout's wife convoyed into 

 camp by their elephant, who had her by the hair ! He had 

 wound his trunk round it, and was marching her along, not 

 roughly but purposefully. She had been bathing, and he 

 evidently knew where to find her, and did so ; it seemed she 

 was wanted for something, or he thought so, but for what 

 I have now forgotten. 



A mahout's wife will not hesitate to put her sleeping baby 

 into the charge of their elephant, either laying it in the 

 hollow of the curved, expectant trunk as in a cradle, where 

 you may see the mite dandled to and fro evenly and gently, 

 or putting it beside him on the ground, knowing that the 

 child is as safe in that jealous care as with herself for as 

 long as she chooses to be gone. 



The trunk is the most exquisitely sensitive part of an 

 elephant's body ; a blow on it from a stick in a child's tiny 

 hand will make him squeal with pain, as I saw and heard 

 myself one day when a cunning old fellow, having sniffed 

 them, got nearer and nearer to the hut where rice bags, 



