feeding, and the elephant would lift it gently out of the way. If the child had crawled to a greater distance than the elephant thought right, he would stretch out his trunk, and lift it back as gently as possible to the spot from which it had started, without frightening the child, who soon became used to its giant nurse.

Elephants are trained to carry burdens in many parts of Asia, and are made very useful in battle, tiger-hunts, &c. One, which was wounded in a battle, in India, ran furiously about the field, uttering terrible cries. A poor soldier lay in his way, unable to move. The animal approached, seemed afraid of trampling on him, took him up with his trunk, placed him gently on his feet, and went on his way without hurting him.

During one of the wars in India, an elephant was wounded by a cannon-ball. He was taken to the hospital to have his wound dressed for two or three days; after which he used to go there alone, and bore with patience the pain which the surgeon's treatment gave him, even when he thought it necessary to apply fire to the wound. A young elephant once received a wound in his head, which made him ungovernable. The keeper spoke and made signs to the mother, who instantly seized her young one, and held it down with her trunk till the surgeon had dressed its wound; and this she repeated every day, till it was quite healed.

These anecdotes of the sagacity and docility of the elephant, I have read in various books of natural history; but I am now going to tell one, which was told to me as happening a few weeks ago, to an elephant travelling

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in a caravan about England. The caravan arrived at a turnpike-gate, where the man demanded additional toll for the size of the animal. The owner of the caravan remonstrated in vain, and the man refused to open the gate till the money was paid. Upon this the driver went up to the elephant, and whispered in his ear; and the animal immediately walked up to the gate, lifted it off its hinges with his trunk, and walked quietly through, followed by the caravan and his masters.

THE following story is related by Mr. Waterton in his

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Essays on Natural History."

In the month of July 1831, two fine lions were seen in

a jungle about twenty miles distant from Rajcoté, in the East Indies, where Captain Woodhouse and his friends, Lieutenants Delamain and Lang, were stationed. When news of this reached these gentlemen, they set off on horseback early in the morning, full of glee at the prospect of a speedy engagement. On arriving at the edge of the jungle, people were ordered to ascend the neighbouring trees, to watch the route of the lions in case they left the cover. After beating about in the jungle for some time, the hunters started them. The officers fired immediately, and one of the lions fell to rise no more. His companion rushed from the cover, and went off across the country. The officers pursued him on horseback as far as the nature of the ground would allow, till they learned from the men who were stationed in the trees, and who held up flags by way of signal, that the lion had gone back into the thicket. Upon this, the three officers returned to the edge of the jungle, dismounted from their horses, and got upon an elephant; Captain Woodhouse placing himself upon the hindermost seat. They now proceeded towards the middle of the jungle, and found the lion standing under a large bush, with his face directly towards them. He allowed them to approach till they were within reach of his spring, and then made a sudden dart at the elephant, clung on his trunk with a tremendous roar, and wounded him just above the eye. While in the act of doing this, the two Lieutenants fired at him, but without success. The elephant now shook him off, but his fierce and sudden attack seemed to have terrified him greatly. It was the first time he had ever been engaged in a lion-hunt, and it was some

time before his riders succeeded in urging him on again in quest of the lion. At last he became somewhat more tractable; but as he was advancing through the jungle, all of a sudden the lion, which had lain concealed in the high grass, made at him with redoubled fury. The officers now lost all hopes of keeping their elephant in order. He turned round, and was going away quite ungovernable, when the lion again sprang at him, seized his hinder parts with his teeth, and hung on him till the affrighted animal managed to shake him off by incessant kicking. The lion retreated farther into the thicket; Captain Woodhouse in the meantime firing a random shot at him, which proved in vain, as the jolting of the elephant and the uproar of the moment prevented him from taking a steady aim. No exertions of the officers could now force the terrified elephant to face the lion, and they were obliged to dismount. Determined, however, to come to closer quarters with the formidable king of quadrupeds, Captain Woodhouse resolved to proceed on foot in search of him; and after some time, he observed the lion indistinctly through the bushes, and discharged his rifle at him, but without success, for he only quietly retired to the thicker parts of the brake. The two Lieutenants joined their companion on hearing the report of his gun. The weather was very sultry; and after vainly spending much time in creeping through the grass and bushes, with the hope of discovering the lion's retreat, they concluded that he had passed quite through the jungle, and gone off another way. The Lieutenants therefore returned to the elephant, and went round the jungle to discover the direction the lion had taken.

Captain Woodhouse, however, remained in the thicket; and the Indian gamefinder, who continued with him, at last saw the lion in the cover, and pointed him out to his commander, who fired, but unfortunately missed his mark. Having retired to a distance to load his rifle, he was joined by Lieut. Delamain, and pointed out to him the place where he would probably find the lion. Lieut. D. soon caught sight of him, and fired his rifle at him. This irritated the lion, who rushed towards him. Captain Woodhouse now finding himself in an awkward situation, resolved to stand still, in the hope that the lion would pass by, at the distance of about four yards, without perceiving him through the thick cover; but in this he was mistaken: the lion saw him in passing, and flew at him with a dreadful roar. The rifle was broken and thrown out of the Captain's hand, his left arm scized by the claws, and his right by the teeth of his enraged foe. At this moment Lieut. D. ran up and discharged his piece full at the lion, who fell with the Captain to the ground; and Lieut. Delamain hastened from the jungle to reload his gun. The lion now began to craunch the Captain's arm; but as he had the courage to lie still, notwithstanding the dreadful pain this gave him, the lion let the arm drop out of his mouth, and crouched quietly down with both his paws upon the thigh of his fallen enemy. While in this situation the Captain unthinkingly raised his hand to support his head, upon which the lion instantly seized the arm, craunched it again, and fractured the bone still higher up. This hint was not lost upon Captain Woodhouse, and he remained motionless under the foot of his enemy. While in this bleeding and disabled state