148 BEASTS AND MEN 
was enjoying a doze, his loved one was led away and another, 
somewhat older, but to all appearances thoroughly lovable, 
cow introduced in her stead. When the elephant awoke he 
immediately discovered his loss, and paying not the least 
attention to the blandishments of the new cow, he raged 
about the yard in a pitiful state of agitation until his sweet- 
heart was restored to him. 
Elephants are in all ways models of domestic virtue, for 
the parents’ devotion to their children is as great as their 
love for each other. I have frequently had opportunities 
of observing this, but to me it has always been even more 
interesting to see the kindness with which other elephants 
—not belonging to the family at all—treat the young 
calves. The patience of the old elephants is, too, very often 
severely tried, for the calves are astonishingly skittish for such 
heavily built little animals. They are up to all sorts of mis- 
chief, and are especially fond of running under the legs of 
their elders and nudging them from below. The calves 
used to have regular wrestling matches with my Indian ele- 
phant drivers, and when a man was knocked down by his 
opponent the little brute would trample upon him in the 
greatest delight. 
A great number of elephants have passed through my 
hands, and in my long experience of the creatures I have 
naturally grown to know their racial character, as well as the 
peculiar traits of particular individuals. Indeed on more than 
one occasion an elephant has come uncomfortably near put- 
ting an end to my career. Clever animals are liable to 
moods, with which it is not always possible to reckon, and at 
certain seasons the bulls are not to be depended upon and 
become very dangerous. One of my worst accidents hap- 
pened at the end of the sixties. About that time I purchased 
a menagerie in Trieste, which included among the other 
beasts a female elephant which stood about eight feet high. 
She seemed to be a thoroughly good-tempered animal, her 
only fault being that she occasionally had the sulks—a not 
