Jungle By- Ways in India 



him. Only curiosity to see an elephant in a spot 

 where he had not expected to see one, for this 

 locality was rarely visited by wild elephants, 

 and then only in the rains. 



My first feeling was one of wild disappointment 

 that I had not a rifle with me. As he lay there 

 he offered the easiest of marks. As I watched him, 

 however, the feeling gave way to one of pleasure 

 at thus having the opportunity of studying the 

 animal in its natural habitat, and acting in a 

 perfectly natural manner. He had not seen us 

 on the elephant, and it was very doubtful that he 

 would, provided we remained absolutely still, 

 as neither tiger nor leopard nor, in fact, many of 

 the jungle denizens look far up, and an elephant's 

 back appears to be beyond the range of their ken. 



Having taken in to the full the beauty of the 

 lithe cat lying at length on the bole, for all the 

 world like some cat on the hearthrug in one's 

 house, I motioned to the mahout to move slowly 

 forward. This he did. When we were within 

 about twenty-five paces the leopard got up, 

 stretched himself lazily, and sprang lightly down 

 from the trunk, glanced round at the elephant 

 again«, and slowly trotted off in front of us. We 

 moved very slowly forward in the same direction. 

 Every now and then 'spots' stopped and half 

 turned to look at the elephant, and then trotted 

 on, for all the world like a kitten in a garden. 



We went on in this fashion for some 200 yards 



276 



