130 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
bag is desired, as the birds soon become wary, and 
move readily from one sheet of water to another. 
The district of Gonda is adjacent to that of 
Gorakhpur, and connected with it by rail, and here 
are the estates of the Mahdrdjé of Balrdmpur, a 
relative of that potentate who earned his title by 
his loyalty in the days of the Mutiny. He it was 
who collected the magnificent stud of elephants 
numbering over one hundred, and all trained to 
some form of sport; for their owner was a mighty 
hunter, and it is from hence that arrangements were 
made every second or third year for elephant-hunt- 
ing by ‘“kheddahs,” whereby the increase of the 
wild herds in the United Provinces is checked. It 
used to be a unique sight to inspect the stud at 
Balrémpur, and to visit the fighting elephants, some 
of enormous size, and so dieted as abnormally to 
increase their weight, on the same principle that the 
Indian wrestler is fattened. When both elephant 
and driver were under the influence of a drug that 
deadened all fear, some great duels have taken place 
with the object of occupying the attention of the 
lord of the wild herd while his harem was being 
ensnared ; but on more than one occasion the trained 
elephant has been unable to stem the whole-hearted 
charge of the free animal, undertaken with fury and 
despair at the prospect of imminent capture. Some 
of the Balrdmpur fighting tuskers were animals of 
unusual bulk, and their attendants sat as pigmies on 
their backs; but in the forest in those days were 
others who, judging from estimates carried out at a 
respectful distance, and from the measurements of 
the print of the fore-foot, were probably larger, and 
