TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
517 
about to enter. We left our shoes behind us in 
the hall, and proceeded along the top of the 
wall, to within no great distance of his Majesty ; 
when we sat down, making our obeisance by 
touching the forehead with the right hand. A 
cloud of dust announced the approach of the 
elephants, about twenty in number : these, with 
the exception of the captive, were all females, 
several of them with their young following 
them. A few of the best broken-in only were 
mounted. Partly by persuasion, and partly by 
force, there was seen driving before them a small 
male elephant, not, as we were told, above thir¬ 
teen years old : it required at least half an li our 
to induce him to enter the gate of the enclosure. 
A very docile female elephant led the way, con¬ 
ducted by her keeper; but the half-tamed fe¬ 
males were nearly as reluctant to enter as the 
wild male himself: they went five or six times 
half-way in, before they were finally entrapped; 
and, twice over, the male had run off to the dis¬ 
tance of a quarter of a mile from the enclosure, 
but was again brought back by the females. A 
message was sent to us by the King, to say, that 
we were at liberty to stand up to view this part 
of the sport, but unluckily we were already 
standing when it reached us. 
The elephants having entered, we were re- 
