Chap. VI.] 
THE ELEPHANT. 
205 
then, connecting the three collars together, the pri- 
soner was effectually made safe between his two guards. 
During this operation, it was curious to see how the 
tame elephant, from time to time, used its trunk to 
shield the arm of its rider, and ward off the trunk of the 
prisoner, who resisted the placing the rope round his 
neck. This done, the nooses were removed from his 
feet, and he was marched off to the river, in which 
he and his companions were allowed to bathe ; a privi- 
lege of which all availed themselves eagerly. Each 
was then made fast to a tree in the forest, and keepers 
being assigned to him, with a retinue of leaf-cutters, he 
was plentifully supplied with his favourite food, and left 
to the care and tuition of his new masters. 
Eeturning from a spectacle such as I have attempted 
to describe, one cannot help feeling how immeasurably 
it exceeds in interest those royal battues where timid 
deer are driven in crowds to unresisting slaughter; or 
those vaunted s{ wild sports " the amusement of which 
appears to be in proportion to the effusion of blood. 
Here the only display of power was the imposition of 
restraint ; and though considerable mortality often occurs 
amongst the animals caught, the infliction of pain, so 
far from being an incident of the operation, is most cau- 
tiously avoided from its tendency to enrage, the policy 
of the captor being to conciliate and soothe. The whole 
scene exhibits the most marvellous example of the volun- 
tary alliance of animal sagacity and instinct in active 
co-operation with human intelligence and courage ; and 
nothing else in nature, not even the chase of the whale, 
can afford so vivid an illustration of the sovereignty of 
man over brute creation even when confronted with 
force in its most stupendous embodiment. 
