AT THE KHEDDAHS. n 



their midday meal, when it was time to lift the 

 ponderous door and let a few more elephants into 

 the securing stockade. The few natives present 

 were unable to lift the gate and Mr. Sanderson im- 

 pressed the British officers present to help. It was 

 amusing to watch Captains Holford and Harvey, of 

 the Prince's staff, Colonels Macintire and Grant, 

 of the Maharaja's staff, Mr. Claude Vincent, of the 

 Madras Governor's staff, Sir Oliver St. John, the 

 British Resident, and others, take hold of the 

 hawser supporting the door and draw it up with 

 a " Heave, oh ! " Up went the gate, and in rushed 

 the little baby elephant, whose mother was still 

 trying to shake off her hobbles. It was touching to 

 watch her fondling her calf as soon as it rejoined 

 her. She felt it all over with her trunk, thrust it 

 from her to have a good look at it, and drew it again 

 to her side, and repeated this a dozen times, her 

 head wagging up and down, and her forelegs 

 beating time as if to a dancing measure. Now 

 and again she would put her trunk down her 

 own throat into her stomach and draw thence 

 a quantity of water, which she would blow 

 over her body in a fine spray and also sprinkle 

 over her calf. With the second batch let into 

 the enclosure was a huge female, the largest in the 

 herd. She was said to be very old, as the top of 

 her ear curled forward a sign of extreme age in 

 elephants. This brute was very vicious, and had 

 shown no fear of the beaters. Indeed, she had 

 made frequent attempts to get at them by putting 

 her trunk over the palisading. When driven into the 



