t
struggle; but the third had sunk up to the shoulders, and could
scarcely move. All hands immediately began cutting long grass and
forming it into bundles. These were thrown to the sinking elephant. He
rolled from side to side, the sand quaking and undulating round him in
all directions. At times he would roll over till nearly half his body
was invisible. Some of the Nepaulese ventured near, and managed to
undo the harness-ropes that were holding on the pad. The sagacious
brute fully understood his danger, and the efforts we were making for
his assistance. He managed to get several of the big bundles of grass
under his feet, and stood there looking at us with a most pathetic
pleading expression, and trembling, as if with an ague, from fear and
exhaustion.

The old Major came down to meet us, and a crowd of his men added their
efforts to ours, to help the unfortunate elephant. We threw in bundle
after bundle of grass, till we had the yielding sand covered with a
thick passage of firmly bound fascines, on which the hathee,
staggering and floundering painfully, managed to reach firm land. He
was so completely exhausted that he could scarcely walk to the tents,
and we left him there to the care of his attendants. This is a very
common episode in tiger hunting, and does not always terminate so
fortunately. In running water, the quicksand is not so dangerous, as
the force of the stream keeps washing away the sand, and does not
allow it to settle round the legs of the elephant; but on dry land, a
dry fussun, as it is called, is justly feared; and many a valuable
animal has been swallowed up in its slow, deadly, tenacious grasp.

In crossing sand, the heaviest and slowest elephants should go first,
preceded by a light, nimble pioneer. If the leading elephant shows
signs of sinking, the others should at once turn back, and seek some
safer place. In all cases the line should separate a little, and not
follow in each other's footsteps. The indications of a quicksand are
easily recognised. If the surface of the sand begins to oscillate and
undulate with a tremulous rocking motion, it is always wise to seek
some other passage. Looking back, after elephants have passed, you
will often see what was a perfectly dry flat, covered with several
inches of water. When water begins to ooze up in any quantity, after a
few elephants have passed, it is much safer to make the remainder
cross at some spot farther on.

In crossing a deep swif