THE ELEPHANT. 
245 
ther trick which required equal nicety and 
patience. The keeper, who was accustomed 
to ride on her neck, like the mahouts in India, 
had a large cloth, or housing, which he spread 
over her, when he thus bestrode her in some- 
what of oriental state. On alighting, which 
she assisted him to do by kneeling, he desired 
her to take olF the cloth. In obedience to this 
command, she put the muscles of the loins in 
action, so that the shrinking of the loose skin 
gave motion to the cloth, and it gradually 
Wriggled to one side, till it fell by its own 
Weight. The cloth was then of course in a 
heap ; but the elephant, spreading it carefully 
Upon the grass with her trunk, folded it up as 
a napkin is folded, till it was sufficiently com- 
pact for her purpose. She then poised it with 
her trunk for a few seconds, and with one jerk 
threw it over her head to the centre of her 
hack, where it remained as steady as if ad- 
justed by human hands. The affection of this 
