194 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. VI. 
instances where the intervention of the other decoys 
failed to reduce a wild one to order, the mere presence 
and approach of the tusker seemed to inspire fear, and 
insure submission, without more active intervention. 
I do not know whether it was the surprising qualities 
exhibited by the tame elephants that cast the courage 
and dexterity of the men into the shade, but even when 
supported by the presence, the sagacity, and co-operation 
of these wonderful creatures, the part sustained by the 
noosers can bear no comparison with the address and 
daring displayed by the picador and matador in a 
Spanish bull-fight. They certainly possessed great 
quickness of eye in watching the slightest movement of 
the elephant, and great expertness in flinging the noose 
over its foot and attaching it firmly before the animal 
could tear it off with its trunk ; but in all this they had 
the cover of the decoys to conceal them; and their 
shelter behind which to retreat. Apart from the services 
which, from their prodigious strength, the tame elephants 
are alone capable of rendering, in dragging out and 
securing the captives, it is perfectly obvious that without 
their co-operation the utmost prowess and dexterity of 
the hunters would not avail them, unsupported, to enter 
the corral and ensnare and lead out a single captive. 
Of the two tiny elephants which were entrapped, one 
was about ten months old, the other somewhat more. The 
smaller one had a little bolt head covered with woolly 
brown hair, and was the most amusing and interesting 
miniature imaginable. Both kept constantly with the 
herd, trotting after them in every charge ; when the 
others stood at rest they ran in and out between the legs 
of the older ones ; and not their own mothers alone, but 
every female in the group caressed them in turn. 
