DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5831#0094
ANECDOTE OF AX ELEPHANT.
71
of which he had the charge, at the same time giving
her (for it was a female) a verbal caution, which she ,
seemed perfectly to comprehend, to be vigilant in the
discharge of her trust; he then quitted the spot on
which the elephant was picketed, leaving the infant
on the ground before her. Some English officers, hear-
ing the caution that had been given, and doubting the
integrity of the creature, with whose character, as it
appeared in the sequel, they were but indifferently
acquainted, determined to try if it was not possible
to seduce her from her trust; they concluded of course
that, as is the case with all brutes, whether quadru-
ped or biped—for they are sometimes to be found
among the latter race of animals—selfishness was a
predominating trait of her nature, and that there-
fore every other object would be held secondary to
her own gratification. Under this impression, they
began by tempting her appetite, and the appetite of
an elephant is in general tolerably keen, with such
fruits as they knew she was likely to be most fond
of, not doubting for a moment that she would in-
stantly resign the guardianship of the child for an em-
ployment so much more to her satisfaction. But no ;
she eyed the fruit' with an oblique though approving
glance, at the same time not attempting to stir,
keeping her head just over the child, from which her
eye was not for an instant diverted. Some of the
tempters, provided with long bamboos, having a noose
at the end, endeavoured to draw the little object of
the creature's solicitude from the position in which
the parent had placed it. At this the elephant
evinced considerable displeasure, disdaining to cast a
71
of which he had the charge, at the same time giving
her (for it was a female) a verbal caution, which she ,
seemed perfectly to comprehend, to be vigilant in the
discharge of her trust; he then quitted the spot on
which the elephant was picketed, leaving the infant
on the ground before her. Some English officers, hear-
ing the caution that had been given, and doubting the
integrity of the creature, with whose character, as it
appeared in the sequel, they were but indifferently
acquainted, determined to try if it was not possible
to seduce her from her trust; they concluded of course
that, as is the case with all brutes, whether quadru-
ped or biped—for they are sometimes to be found
among the latter race of animals—selfishness was a
predominating trait of her nature, and that there-
fore every other object would be held secondary to
her own gratification. Under this impression, they
began by tempting her appetite, and the appetite of
an elephant is in general tolerably keen, with such
fruits as they knew she was likely to be most fond
of, not doubting for a moment that she would in-
stantly resign the guardianship of the child for an em-
ployment so much more to her satisfaction. But no ;
she eyed the fruit' with an oblique though approving
glance, at the same time not attempting to stir,
keeping her head just over the child, from which her
eye was not for an instant diverted. Some of the
tempters, provided with long bamboos, having a noose
at the end, endeavoured to draw the little object of
the creature's solicitude from the position in which
the parent had placed it. At this the elephant
evinced considerable displeasure, disdaining to cast a