sary to take steps to
kill some of them, and thin the herds by capturing some of the females,
which might be tamed and made useful.

"For this purpose of hunting and catching elephants a hunt upon a truly
magnificent scale was instituted. Now, as it is very difficult to kill
such huge creatures, and still more difficult to catch them, men are
obliged to call to their aid tame elephants, which are trained for the
purpose of what is called Khedda hunting. But I don't mean to tell you
either about the killing or catching just now. I shall rather relate an
extraordinary and thrilling incident that occurred before the hunt had
properly begun.

"Great men from all parts of the country assembled at this hunt, some of
them bringing troops of tame elephants and followers with them. There
were governors and rajahs, and private secretaries, with some of their
wives, military officers, forest officers, commissioners, collectors,
superintendents, magistrates, surgeons, medical officers, and even
clergymen, besides a host of smaller fry and servants. It was a regular
army! The Maharajah of Bulrampore sent sixty-five catching elephants,
and five koonkies or fighting elephants, among which was a famous
warrior named Chand Moorut. Along with these came a body of men trained
to that special work. A good contingent also came from Rampore. The
Rajah of Khyrigarh came in person with thirteen elephants and a noted
fighting animal, named Berchir Bahadur; other elephants were collected
from the rajahs and native gentlemen around. Among the koonkies, or
gladiators, were two tremendous fellows, both as to colossal size and
courage, named respectively Raj Mungul and Isri Pershad.

"But far before them all in towering height and stupendous weight and
unconquerable courage, as well as warlike tendency, was the mighty Chand
Moorut, whom I first mentioned. This grand, slow-moving, sedate hero of
a hundred fights, was a sort of elephantine bull-dog; a concentrated
earthquake; an animal thunder-bolt; a suppressed volcano. Nothing in
the forests had yet been found which could stand before his onset. And
when we saw him stalk solemnly into camp with his mahowt, or guide,
looking like a small monkey on his great neck, and remembered his fame
as a fighter and his eager thirst at all times for battle, we felt that
the keystone had been put to the arch of our arrangements.

"This great mixed multitude was put under the direction of a Conserva