518 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
quested to come into the King’s presence, in 
which situation we should have a better view 
of the sport. We walked round accordingly by 
the southern and eastern angles of the enclo¬ 
sure, and seats were assigned to us in the same 
line with, and next to the Princes ; not only the 
most distinguished, but the most convenient 
situation. We made a bow, as before, and the 
sport went on. From the smallness of the ele¬ 
phant, there was neither much danger nor amuse¬ 
ment in it. The females were withdrawn from 
the enclosure, one by one; and then the ele¬ 
phant-catchers, who are a distinct race, went 
into the square unarmed, and provoked the 
wild elephant to pursue them, which he did 
with great fury. The keepers took shelter from 
his pursuit within the palisade, through the 
apertures of which he lashed his trunk in vain. 
The elephant-keepers exhibited much boldness 
and agility ; but, from what we saw, I should 
conceive that they ran very little risk. Acci¬ 
dents, however, sometimes occur. A few years 
ago, one of the hunters, when pursued by the 
elephant, tripped and fell: he was killed on the 
spot by the enraged animal. The King, who 
was present when this happened, immediately 
retired, the sight of blood not being fit for him 
