his party came up and fired at her; one bullet alone touching her in
the shoulder; her young ones then retreated, and she left her victim,
finally knocking him with her hind feet as she went off. He got up,
picked up his gun, and staggered away as fast as he could. She turned
round, looked after him; and he then lay down in the long grass, and so
eluded her observation.

A soldier of the Royal African Corps did not escape as Mr. Moodie did,
for an elephant caught him with his trunk, carried him some distance,
threw him down, brought his four feet together and trod and stamped upon
him till he was dead. He left the body, then returned to it, knelt down
upon, crushed and kneaded it once more; then he seized it with his
trunk, bore it to the jungle, and threw it among the bushes.

One of the strongest instincts of the elephant is to try the strength of
everything before he ventures upon it, and it is almost impossible to
induce him to trust himself upon any surface which is not perfectly firm
and steady. Therefore the well-authenticated story is the more
extraordinary of a rope-dancing, or rather walking elephant, who not
only walked forwards, but backwards upon a suspended rope.

A female elephant, seven years old, on being brought to the Adelphi,
first ascertained the safety of the stage, and then began to rehearse
the parts she used to play in Paris. Having succeeded so well in this
place, she took a higher walk of performances at the Coburg theatre,
where she rehearsed for three weeks, then distinguished the actors,
learnt to place the crown on the head of the lawful king, and feasted at
his banquet with perfect propriety. All this was taught her by kindness.

A poor little calf elephant hovered about the body of its mother after
she had been killed, making the most mournful noises; the herd had
deserted them, and they had passed the night in the forest. The poor
thing, when the hunters came up, entwined its little proboscis about
their legs, showed its delight at their approach by many ungainly
antics, then went to the body of its mother, scaring away the vultures;
ran round it with every mark of grief, and tried to raise it with its
trunk. Of course the confidence of the baby elephant was not abused,
though its wishes for aid towards its mother, could not be gratified.

The elephants of Ceylon have always been reckoned the best; and
instances of their memory are quite extraordinary. A favourite mode of
execution