126 GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



On board the steamer that we sailed in for home, 

 there was a young elephant that was sent by a trader 

 for sale. He was kept in a strong stall, built on 

 deck for his quarters. There were wide cracks 

 between the boards, and the elephant had the habit 

 of reaching his trunk through them in search of 

 anything he might find. With his long, flexible 

 proboscis extended from the side of the stall, he 

 would twist and coil it in all manner of writhing 

 forms, This was the crowning terror of the 

 lives of those two apes : it was the bogie-man of 

 their existence, and nothing could induce either of 

 them to go near it If they saw me go about it, they 

 would scream and yell until I came away. If Aaron 

 could get hold of me without getting too near it, he 

 would cling to me until he would almost tear my 

 clothes to keep me away from it. It was the one 

 thing that Elisheba was afraid of, and the only one 

 against which she ever gave me warning. 



They did not manifest the same concern for 

 others, but sat watching them without offering any 

 protest. Even the stowaway who fed them and 

 attended to their cage was permitted to approach it, 

 but their solicitude for me was remarked by every 

 man on board. 



I was never able to tell what their opinion was of 

 the thing. They were much less afraid of the 

 elephant when they could see all of him, than they 

 were of the trunk when they saw that alone. They 

 may have thought the latter to be a big snake, but 

 such is only conjecture. 



