WILD ELEPHANTS BY TRAIN. 211 



from behind. I sprang forward in alarm, and 

 turning round was horrified to see, as I moment- 

 arily thought, the expanded hood of a huge cobra 

 elevated above a small enclosure near which I 

 had been standing. Fortunately, however, there 

 was no cobra ; and on closer inspection I saw a 

 number of baby elephants within the enclosure, 

 and one of these little creatures had put its trunk 

 over and was feeling me round the neck, when 

 I started forward in such alarm. There were five 

 of these babies, all under a year old, and standing 

 about the height of a donkey. All the mothers 

 had been shot, as too old for work, so that the 

 little ones, deprived of their natural nourishment, 

 were fed on boiled rice and milk poured down 

 their throats from hollow bamboo vessels. It 

 was amusing to see the little things curl up their 

 trunks and elevate their mouths, so that the pap 

 might be poured in without losing a drop. Quite 

 a bucketful is a square meal, and this they indulge 

 in twice a day. The preparations at the station 

 were now sufficiently advanced, and a great 

 muckna (tuskless male elephant) was the first 

 taken to the siding to be entrained. Specially 

 strengthened horse-trucks, with the tops and 

 partitions removed, had been got ready by the 

 Railway authorities for their transport. A strong 

 gangway led from the platform into the truck, 

 and the mahout (driver) was endeavouring to 

 get the muckna over this and into the wagon, 

 but without success. Nothing would induce him 

 to go further than the entrance of the gangway. 



14* 



