96 TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS 
overboard. They hit the water with a great splash 
and a roar and came up blowing like whales. They 
were swimming, of course, for elephants swim bet- 
ter than any other land animals I have ever seen. 
The attendants approached them in rowboats, and, 
jumping on their backs, rode them to shore. By 
the time they reached land, they had completely 
recovered from the excitement of falling overboard. 
The captain returned to Singapore, enthusiastic 
over this new way of handling elephants, and I had 
the pleasure of shipping my last consignment to 
Madras on his ship. He advised me never to take 
an agent’s word for. what the captain of a ship will 
or will not do, and after that experience, I always 
saw the captain first and the agent second. 
In collecting and trapping of wild animals one 
must not think that all animals so caught are fit 
for zodlogical or show purposes. Such is not the 
case; often after trailing animals for days and after 
having trapped them, I found them old, scarred, 
mangey, with broken tails and in numerous ways 
unfit, and although I rarely killed, except in self- 
preservation, I would kill off all such as were not fit. 
All animals I sold and shipped were at the time 
of embarkment, healthy, sound and in good con- 
dition. As I never carried with my outfit any 
preparation for. the curing of skins, I usually al- 
lowed the natives to have them, although I often 
presented good specimens to the Raffles Museum 
at Singapore that were mounted and catalogued 
