THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 33 



place and will silently follow suit. Similarly, in 

 stalking single elephants, when the animal sights 

 or hears a man at close quarters, there is a quick 

 rush, followed by absolute silence. The novice 

 creeps cautiously in the elephant's wake, sup- 

 posing it to be standing close at hand listening. 

 Not a bit of it ! That elephant is quietly making 

 tracks for all it is worth, and has no intention 

 of pulling up until it has placed many a mile 

 between itself and its pursuer. 



I shall not easily forget my first interview 

 with a herd of wild elephants, and how dis- 

 appointed I was at what I then thought was 

 the mysterious behaviour of the herd. I was 

 after bison at the time, at the foot of the Chin 

 Hills, and had never seen or heard wild elephants. 

 I had an old tracker with me who proved to be 

 quite useless. It was a regular case of the blind 

 leading the blind. We were making our way one 

 evening across an open plain bordered by thick 

 jungle, when suddenly an unearthly scream rent 

 the air. I looked at the Burman, who returned 

 the compliment, evidently as fogged as I was 

 myself. ' What is it ? ' I whispered. - Pyoung ' 

 (bison), he said. The sound was presently re- 

 peated, and seemed to come from a corner of the 

 thick jungle ahead of us. Somehow I didn't 

 think it could be bison. I had an idea that 

 bison lowed or bellowed like domestic cattle; 

 but I supposed he knew. The idea of elephants 

 never occurred to me. Well, we skirted the 



