es, and shortly after, as if aware that it was past all
defence, hopped slowly away; they were hardly out of sight in the bushes
when back came the stoat, threw the leveret, twice as big as himself,
over his shoulders, and went off with his prize at a hard gallop,
reminding me, in miniature, of the Bengal tiger carrying off a bullock.
All the actors in the drama having gone off; I walked off, and shortly
after both barrels of my gun went off, so the whole party disappeared,
and there's an end of my story.

If an elephant were not so very unwieldy, and at the same time so very
uncertain in his temper, he is the animal who has the most claims from
affection and intelligence to be made a pet of; but an elephant in a
drawing-room would be somewhat incommodious; and, although one may admit
a little irritability of temper in a lap-dog weighing three pounds, the
anger of an elephant, although he expresses himself very sorry for it
afterwards, is attended with serious consequences. There is something
very peculiar about an elephant in his anger and irritability. It
sometimes happens that, at a certain season, a wild elephant will leave
the herd and remain in the woods alone. It is supposed, and I think
that the supposition is correct, that these are the weaker males who
have been driven away by the stronger, in fact, they are elephants
crossed in love; and when in that unfortunate dilemma, they are very
mischievous, and play as many fantastic tricks as ever did any of the
knights of the round table on similar occasions in times of yore.

I was at Trincomalee; an elephant in this situation had taken possession
of the road at some leagues distant, and, for reasons best known to
himself, would not allow a soul to pass it. He remained _perdu_ in the
jungle till he saw somebody coming, and then he would burst out and
attack them. It is the custom to travel in palanquins from one part of
the island to another, as in all parts of India. If some officer or
gentleman was obliged to proceed to Colombo or elsewhere, so soon as the
palanquin came towards him, out came the elephant; the native bearers,
who knew that it was no use arguing the point, dropped the palanquin and
fled, and all that the occupant could do was to bundle out and do the
same before the elephant came up, otherwise he had little chance of his
life, for the elephant immediately put his knees in the palanquin and
smashed it to atoms. Having done this, he would toss