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 " 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. 



