290 WILD ANIMALS. 



elephant may be trusted with, a baby, but I have seen a baby 

 placed by its mother systematically under the elephant's care, and 

 within reach of its trunk, whilst the mother went to fetch water 

 or to get wood and materials to cook the family dinner. No 

 jackal or wolf would be likely to pick up and carry of£ a baby 

 who was thus confided to the care of an elephant; but most 

 people who have lived a life in the jungle know how very possible 

 it is for a jackal or wolf to carry off a baby, even when lying in 

 a hut, when the mother's back is turned. The children thus 

 brought up in the companionship of an elephant become ridi- 

 culously familiar with it, and take all kinds of liberties with it ; 

 which the elephant seems to endure on the principle that it does 

 not hurt her, while it amuses the child. You see a little naked 

 black imp about two feet high standing on the elephant's bare 

 back, and taking it down to the water to bathe, vociferating all 

 the time in the most unbecoming terms of native abusive language. 

 On arriving at the water the elephant, ostensibly in obedience to 

 the imp's command, lies down and enjoys itself, just leaving a 

 part of its body, like a small island, above water, on which the 

 small imp stands and shouts, and shouts all the more if so be 

 that he has several companions of his own age, also in charge of 

 their elephants, all wallowing in the water around him. If the imp 

 slips off his island the elephant promptly replaces him in safety. 

 These little urchins as they grow up become, first, mates 

 to mahouts, and eventually arrive at the dignity of being 

 mahouts." 



According to Mr. Sanderson half a ton is a good load for 

 an elephant for ordinary work, and seven hundredweight is 

 enough for him to carry in a hilly country, but the animals em- 

 ployed in the Abyssinian Expedition were given heavier loads, 

 some as much as 1800 pounds. The amount of fodder they will 

 consume is between 600 and 800 pounds every eighteen hours, but 

 the capacity or appetite of one elephant is no gauge to that of 

 another, for individuals vary considerably in their requirements, 

 as is shown by the difference in the allowance fixed for each 

 animal by the Commissariat Departments of Bengal and Madras. 

 The cost of the food, coupled with the wages of the men required 



