8o The Life of an Elephant 



It was rather a gaunt elephant which ulti- 

 mately reached the timber yard, and viewed the 

 broad estuary and inhaled the scent of the sea 

 air. To him at first 

 all was repugnant, 

 the brackish water, 

 the slimy mud, the 

 fodder impregnated 

 with brine from the 

 salt breezes ; but 

 here, as before, he 

 adapted himself to his surroundings, but in 

 reality possessed no one thing that made life 

 enjoyable to him. His work, too, was the more 

 arduous that it had to be accomplished under 

 the burning sun. For the elephant is parti- 

 cularly sensitive to heat ; when wild, he rarely 

 moves when the sun is hot, but stands in the 

 deepest shade available, and often seeks further 

 protection by piling grass on head and neck, 

 and throwing earth over his body. Those 

 human beings who have lived in intimacy 

 amongst this forest tribe will truly relate, how 

 at times they have unwittingly approached 



