and I waited till 2 P.M., and then went to the head of the valley, only about a mile from my tent. I sat on a ridge of rock overlooking the valley, which is crowded with jungle, and in a few minutes saw a great back, red with the ferruginous mud of this district, pass slowly along the middle of the valley. Then I saw another, a female with a cub, which I did not care to disturb. We watched the great elephant for some time, and saw that it was a tusker, as he every now and then raised his trunk up to the trees, and showed the white gleam of a fine pair of tusks. Presently we saw another elephant moving about near the other end of the small valley, where, as we afterwards found, a narrow pass led out between the hills, and he, too, displayed tusks. I consulted with the shikarries, and we agreed to attack the pair of tuskers, and, led by an ancient Pulleer, we plunged into the jungle, and followed the track of the firstseen elephant.

In one of the densest thickets, where we had almost to crawl on our hands and knees, we heard a branch crack on our left, and directly afterwards another on our right; there they were, within a hundred yards of us, and we between them. We crept on again, and presently the left-hand elephant made a noise exactly like the letting off of a rocket. "Discovered!" thought I; for six men making their way through such a jungle could not help making some noise. We halted, and I did not feel very comfortable when we heard both elephants growling in a very dissatisfied manner, for we could not have moved out of the path which we were on. We moved on a short distance, and were glad to reach an open space of bare rock which forms the head of the pass. The "Paddy Bird"

A PAIR OF TUSKERS.

177

pointed to our right, and there, about twenty yards off, in a clump of tangled jungle, I with difficulty distinguished the head and tusks of a great elephant.

He was facing us, and evidently saw us all as we emerged from the jungle. His attitude was that of the most watchful attention-ears cocked, tusks almost touching the ground, and perfectly silent. The other elephant was moving uneasily to our left, and we were right between them. The right-hand animal now moved a few yards, and gave one or two short trumpets, a prelude, as it were, to a grand piece of music; the left-hand fellow continued growling, but moved not. At last he did move, and crossed towards the pass; he was in a nullah, and his forehead appeared among the bushes instead of high up. I fired at the space between his eye and ear; he turned round, with a noise between a groan and a roar, and rushed back into the thicket. The other elephant remained quite silent, and we did not know what to make of him. He was close by, we knew, and by his ominous silence it was likely that he was in a humour to charge down upon us should we move. Presently he growled, and came out in front of us at about twenty paces' distance. I gave him the

right barrel on his ear; he uttered a smothered roar, stumbled, and turned round, and appeared to be coming right over us. In moving round to avoid him I caught my foot between two rocks and tripped up, and before I could recover myself he passed out of view in the thick jungle. It was now too late to do more; but the next day this elephant was found dead by some villagers who were roaming the forest some miles from where I fired at him. He was a fine elephant, with moderately good tusks.

Next morning two shikarries came and brought word of a herd of about twenty elephants, in a forest beyond the village of Menaichpooram, about three miles from my tent. After a toilsome climb of hills, through jungle which was in many places almost impenetrable to us-but which the elephants had crossed and re-crossed in all directions, though the branches overhung their paths in such a way that we had absolutely to thrash our way along-we arrived at the top of a hill which overlooked a long valley. Here we saw two elephants half-way up a hill-side, amusing themselves with tearing the small trees in pieces. They were as red as foxes, from the red mud with which they had plastered themselves. Going on, we saw at least a dozen elephants in the nearest part of the valley, and, on climbing on to a mass of rocks which jutted out from the hill-side, we got a full view of all below. There were two herds in the valley, consisting altogether of over forty elephants, but all were females and young ones; no tusker was visible. The various noises were very odd-every now and then a trumpet, loud and shrill; then a tiger-like roar; anon a piping squeal; and all sorts of queer rumblings and blowings.

We watched the beasts for nearly an hour, and then descended into the valley, determined to do something with them. The character of the jungle was better than I expected; it was so trodden by the elephants that we could get along very well. After a little while we came upon three or four elephants, which were advancing towards us. They were behind a thin screen of bushes, and I was just preparing for a shot, when all at once a general hurried movement took place, and they hastily retreated without uttering

f

Next morning two shikarries came and brought word of a herd of about twenty elephants, in a forest beyond the village of Menaichpooram, about three miles from my tent. After a toilsome climb of hills, through jungle which was in many places almost impenetrable to us-but which the elephants had crossed and re-crossed in all directions, though the branches overhung their paths in such a way that we had absolutely to thrash our way along-we arrived at the top of a hill which overlooked a long valley. Here we saw two elephants half-way up a hill-side, amusing themselves with tearing the small trees in pieces. They were as red as foxes, from the red mud with which they had plastered themselves. Going on, we saw at least a dozen elephants in the nearest part of the valley, and, on climbing on to a mass of rocks which jutted out from the hill-side, we got a full view of all below. There were two herds in the valley, consisting altogether of over forty elephants, but all were females and young ones; no tusker was visible. The various noises were very odd-every now and then a trumpet, loud and shrill; then a tiger-like roar; anon a piping squeal; and all sorts of queer rumblings and blowings.

We watched the beasts for nearly an hour, and then descended into the valley, determined to do something with them. The character of the jungle was better than I expected; it was so trodden by the elephants that we could get along very well. After a little while we came upon three or four elephants, which were advancing towards us. They were behind a thin screen of bushes, and I was just preparing for a shot, when all at once a general hurried movement took place, and they hastily retreated without uttering