233 



MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS. 



IV. FAZUL THE MAHOUT. 



'' How long have I been a mahout ? As long as I 

 know of from a child I have been with elephants. 

 My father, who is an old man, is still a mahout, and 

 his father was before him. We are a family of 

 mahouts for many generations back. My grand- 

 father was mahout to one of the nobles of the 

 Emperor of Delhi, and was present with his ele- 

 phant at the battle of Punputh (Paniput). We are 

 Rohillas by race, but have settled down in Behar 

 these two generations. I am now in the service of 

 th^ Sircar, but formerly I worked for the Raja of 

 Durbhunga under whom my father is still employed. 

 " Elephants are like women they cannot be 

 trusted. When they appear most attached to you, 

 then they meditate mischief. My uncle Oomer was 

 killed by his elephant at Dacca. The fuss he made 

 with that elephant ! Twice a day he rubbed it 

 down with a brick and painted its ears with ver- 

 milion and white. He spent half his wages on oil 

 and gur and metay (sweet-stuff) for the wretch ; 

 yet in an evil hour it killed him. Why or wherefore, 

 no one knows. Certainly it was sorry afterwards, 



