Like A Ride On An Earthquake

Nothing but a ride on an earthquake ceuld be conipared to the sensation of being run away with by an elephant. Nothing stops hls wild rush, andhe does not swerve for an obstacle, but goes straight at it. A few shakes fling off everything on his back, and the rider has but a' second or two in which to raake up his mind which overhauging branch he will cling to or if he will risk throwing himself off. A broken neck would be the certain consequence of remaining. As "for stopping him, somebody has well said that yon might as well try to stop a runaway locomotive by puiling with your walking stick on the funnel as to seek to check an elephant at such a moment with the goad. By stroking an elephant 's lip in a certain manu er you can make it pur like a huge grimalkin till the earth shakes beneath your feet. When it is afraid or aagry, it squeaks like an unoiled hinge. Bnt when it suddenly jumps aside like a flea yon imagine for a moment that the ultímate terrestrial cataclysm has gone off. The Malays never wholly trust their elephants and were nervous at my familiarities with mine, a sweet tempered old female on which I rode hundreds of miles. During the midday halt I nsed to cali her up, and she would come and stand with one foot on each side of my chest as I lay on my back and fed her ■with bananas. I was never angry with her but once, when she tried to kill the cook. On one occasion a little elephant of our party, running behind its mother, teased her beyond endnrance, and she turned and gave him a shove that landed him feet nppermost at the bottons of a deep brook. For two hours he screamed like a steam whistle while we were all engaged in getting him out. Every night when we reached camp and the loads were taken off each driver would hobble his beast by tying its front legs together with rattan so that it could only hop with both together. Then a huge wooden bell was hnng around its neck, and it was tnrned loose to wander in the jungle. All night long the faint dong, dong of these bells made a mournfulnoise around the camp. At day break each driver tracked his elephant by the eound, often eoing many miles for him.