refresh it. At last a tame elephant is brought forward, of that number which is employed in instructing the new comers, and an officer riding upon it, in order to show the late captive that it has nothing to fear. The hunters then open the inclosure; and while this creature leads the captive along, two more are joined on either side of it, and these compel it to submit. It is then tied by cords to a massy pillar provided for that purpose, and suffered to remain in that position for about a day and a night, until its indignation be wholly subsided. The next day it begins to be somewhat submissive; and, in a fortnight, is completely tamed like the rest. The females are taken when accompanying the males; they often come into these inclosures, and they shortly after serve as decoys to the rest. But this method of taking the elephant differs according to the abilities of the hunter; the negroes of Africa, who hunt this animal merely for its flesh, are content to take it in pitfalls; and often to pursue it in the defiles of a mountain, where it cannot easily turn, and so wound it from behind till it falls.*

The elephant, when once tamed, becomes the most gentle and obedient of all animals. It soon conceives an attachment for the person that attends it, caresses him, obeys him, and seems to anticipate his desires. This acquaintance is often perfectly necessary; for the elephant frequently takes such an affection for its keeper that it will obey no other: and it has been known to die for grief, when in some sudden fit of madness, it has killed its conductor. We are told, that one of these, that was used by the French forces in India for the drawing their cannon, was promised, by the conductor, a reward, for having performed some painful service; but being disappointed of its expectations, it lew him in a fury. The conductor's wife, who was a spectator of this shocking scene, could not restrain her madness and despair; but running with her two children in her arms, threw them at the elephant's feet, crying out that since it had killed her husband, it might kill her and her children also. The elephant, seeing the children at its feet, instantly stopped, and moderating its fury, took up the eldest with its trunk, and placing him upon its neck, adopted him for its conductor, and obeyed him ever after with great punctuality.

In India, where they were at one time employed in launching ships, a particular elephant was directed to force a very large vessel into the water: the work proved superior to its strength, but not to its endeavours; which, however, the keeper affected to despise. Take away," says he, "that lazy beast, and bring another better fitted for service." The poor animal instantly upon this redoubled its efforts, fractured its scull, and died upon the spot.

66

In Delhi, an elephant, passing along the streets, put his trunk into a tailor's shop, where several people were at work. One of the persons of the shop, desirous of some amusement, pricked the animal's trunk with his needle, and seemed highly delighted with this slight punishment. The elephant, however, passed on without any immediate signs of resentment; but coming to a puddie filled with dirty water, he filled his trunk, returned to the shop, and spurted the contents over all the finery upon which the tailors were then employed. †

* CAPTURING IN PIT-FALLS.-Another method of catching wild elephants is by decoy. ing them by means of a tame animal to pits, covered with grass and rushes, into which they are precipitated. These traps are also made in those paths much frequented by elephants, which in their nightly rambles occasionally stumble into them, and by their moanings, quickly convey intelligence of the success of the device to the peasant. The mode of getting elephants out of pits is somewhat curious, but extremely simple. The animal is for the most part retained until sufficiently tractable to be conducted forth, when large bundles of jungle grass tied up

into sheaves being thrown to him, he is gradually brought to the surface, as may enable him to step out. A very strong objection exists against elephants taken in pits; they are generally lamed, notwithstanding the soft substances, such as leaves and grass, laid at the bottom; exclusive of which, internal bruises often take place, extremely injurious to the constitution of the animal.-ORIENTAL FIELD SPORTS, abridged.

+ RESENTMENT.-Though elephants are somewhat resentful, they are by no means cruel. Instances have happened of their displaying much magnanimity; the following may serve as a proof. A boy of about nine

An elephant in Adsmeer, which often passed through the bazar or market, as he went by a certain herb-woman, always received from her a mouthful of greens. Being one day seized with a periodical fit of madness, he broke his fetters, and, running through the market, put the crowd to flight; and, among others, this woman, who in her haste forgot a little child at her stall. The elephant recollecting the spot where his benefactress was accustomed to sit, took up the infant gently in his trunk, and conveyed it to a place of safety.

At the Cape of Good Hope it is customary to hunt those animals for the sake of their teeth. Three horsemen, well mounted, and armed with lances, attack the elephant alternately, each relieving the other, as they see their companion pressed, till the beast is subdued. Three Dutchmen, brothers, who had made large fortunes by this business, determined to retire to Europe, and enjoy the fruits of their labours; but they resolved one day before they went, to have a last chase, by way of amusement: they met with their game, and began their attack in the usual manner; but, unfortunately, one of their horses falling, happened to fling his rider; the enraged elephant instantly seized the unhappy huntsman with his trunk, flung him up to a vast height in the air, and received him upon one of his tusks as he fell; and then turning towards the other two brothers, as if it were with an aspect of revenge and insult, held out to them the impaled wretch, writhing in the agonies of death.*

years old, son to a mohout, used in his father's absence to teaze the elephant, which for a long time put up with all his mischievous tricks. One day, however, being extremely provoked, she seized the young rogue by the middle with her trunk, and curling it inwards with the boy in its centre, but without pressure, she drew him gently against her two teeth which proceed from the upper jaw, and in females are very short. Thus she held him: the boy was so alarmed that he could not call for assistance. She, however, saved him that trouble by commencing a hideous roar, which summoned the father, on whose arrival she unfolded her trunk.

* ELEPHANT HUNT.-The country we were traversing was singularly varied, savage nature unreclaimed,-no blue smoke amidst the dark green hills and shadowy hollows told of an habitation: even the roads are the work of an elephant. Man has never ap. peared in these tremendous solitudes, save as a destroyer. All was still, yet at intervals there came upon the ear the distaut sound of a passing bell, heavy and slow like a deathtoll; all again was still, and again the bell bird's note came borne on the wind: we never seemed to approach it, but that slow, melancholy, distant, dream-like sound still continued at intervals to haunt us like an evil oinen. We threaded the elephants' paths with a swift silent pace, over hills and through ravines, until, from having been unaccustomed to walking in this riding country, I began, greatly to the surprise of the hunter, to show symptoms of fatigue. "We shall soon be among the elephants," he said, "and then we can sit down and watch them." Forward we went, now in shadow and now in light, as we wound through the high bush; the light now glancing on the strange headgear of the leading Hottentot, now touching

the yellow handkerchief that bound the hunter's head. We had frequently traced the mighty foot-prints of the elephant; from which the Hottentots told us when the animals had been there. "This is three days old.”—“This is last night." It was curious to observe the marks stamped in the mud and the small ponds, of animals that left their haunts at night to drink. The misshapen spoor of the elephant; that of the rhinoceros, resembling three horses' hoofs; the buffalo, the wolf, the timid and various antelopes, and the baboon, were all clearly traced. The search was becoming hopeless, when the leader pointed to a distant hill; there was a consultation in which it was decided that a troop of elephants was passing over it. I looked, and could see nothing. But now we went on with fresh vigour, and gained the hill opposite to that on which they were; we halted and watched, and a few words passed between the hunter and skipper, and we descended silently the ravine that divided us. Again they whispered, marked from what point the light breeze came, and we commenced the steep ascent in a direction that the wind might come from the animals to us; for we were now so near them that their quick scent would have discovered us. Skipper led, while we followed in Indian files, threading a narrow rocky path, which skirted one bank of a small hollow, while the huge beasts were feeding on the opposite one. The leader halted, the hunter gave my companions and myself light sticks, and whispered directions to fire the bush and grass, and to retreat, in the event of the animals charging. It was a strange feeling to find myself within twenty yards of creatures whose forward movement would have been destruction; but they stood brows ing on the bushes, and flapping their large

The teeth of the elephant are what produces the great enmity between him and mankind; but whether they are shed, like the horns of the deer, or whether the animal be killed to obtain them, is not yet perfectly known. All we have as yet certain is, that the natives of Africa, from whence almost all our ivory comes, assure us, that they find the greatest part of it in their forests; nor would, say they, the teeth of an elephant recompense them for their trouble and danger in killing it notwithstanding, the elephants which are tamed by man, are never known to shed their tusks; and from the hardness of their substance, they seem no ways analogous to deer's horns.*

CHAP. XXIII.

THE RHINOCEROS.

NEXT to the elephant, the Rhinoceros is the most powerful of animals. It is

that part would have the appearance of the head of a bog; the upper lip, how