ility
increased; and one day being more unreasonable than ever, he struck the
elephant with such brutality, that the beast uttered a furious cry. The
frightened keeper fled, and it was well he did so, for from that moment
the elephant could not endure the sight of him, becoming violent the
moment he appeared; and nothing ever restored the poor animal to his
previous good conduct: hatred had succeeded to love, indocility to
obedience, and as long as the animal lived these two latter feelings
predominated.

Mr. Broderip, in his delightful Zoological Recreations, tells us of an
elephant which was shewn, among other wild beasts, at a fair in the West
of England. One of the spectators gratified the elephant by some
excellent gingerbread nuts, in return for which, the animal,
unsolicited, performed his tricks. The donor, however, was a practical
joker, and when he had gained the confidence of the good-tempered beast,
presented him with a large parcel, weighing two or three pounds, which
the elephant took unsuspectingly, all at once. He had scarcely
swallowed it, however, than he set up a loud roar, and seemed to suffer
exceedingly; he gave the bucket to his keeper, as if to ask for water,
which was supplied to him most plentifully. "Ho!" said his tormentor,
"Those nuts were a trifle hot, old fellow, I guess." "You had better be
off," exclaimed the keeper, "unless you want the bucket at your head;
and serve you right, too." The elephant drank the sixth bucket full, and
then hurled the empty vessel at the head of the man, just as he cleared
the entrance of the show, or most probably he would have lost his life.
A year after, at the same place, the joker again went to see the
elephant, with one pocket full of good nuts, and the other with nuts of
pepper. He gave the animal some of the first, and then presented him
with one that was hot. The moment the elephant tasted it, he seized the
coat tails of the man, and lifted him from the ground, when the cloth
giving way, he dropped down, half dead with fright; and his coat reduced
to a jacket. The elephant retained the skirts, inserted his trunk into
the pockets, and devoured the good nuts in the most leisurely manner,
after due examination. Those done, he trampled upon the others, till he
had reduced them to a mash, then tore the coat skirts to rags, and threw
them to their owner.

We must not omit to mention the remarkable partiality of the elephant
for brandy, rum, or arrack, eit