Bhutan -- Description and travel; British -- India; India -- Description and travel
At daybreak we started out, Sohanpal Singh and his orderly on Dundora,
while Draj Khan and I led the way on Khartoum. The three were armed with
Government ·303 rifles, while I had my cordite rifle. Our blankets were
strapped on the pads, and our haversacks were filled with food. I
carried a loaf of bread and a tin of corned beef in mine; while my
Thermos flask was filled with limejuice and boiled water. Thus equipped,
we started out amidst the cheers of the sepoys, who had been deeply
interested in the account of the fights we had had on the previous day.
Our route lay by a jungle village called Rungamutti, two miles from our
stockade; and a couple of hours after we had passed it we picked up the
elephant's trail.
The jungle across the river-bed where we had stopped the pursuit was at
first fairly open; and I hoped that we should find our quarry in it. We
came on the spot where he had passed the night. The grass was pressed
down all around and was covered with blood. This was encouraging; and we
went on full of hope. Suddenly through the trees we caught sight of an
elephant standing sideways to us. The mahouts halted their animals and
we brought our rifles to the ready.
But Bechan whispered, "That is not the _budmash_, Sahib. See, it has no
tusks."
It was a _muckna_ or tuskerless male. These are generally timid beasts,
being constantly bullied in the herds by the males provided by Nature
with weapons of offence. As soon as this one caught sight of us it
bolted away through the jungle. We watched its headlong flight and then
continued on the trail. A mile or two further on the jungle had the
appearance of an English wood and the ground was carpeted with ferns. In
an open glade we saw another elephant. It was a female; and, although it
turned its head and looked at us, it did not evince any alarm. So I
determined to try to secure a photograph of it. I handed my rifle to
Draj Khan and took up my Kodak. The wild elephant stood still while I
opened and adjusted the camera and pressed the bulb. As soon as the
click of the shutter announced that the operation was over, she turned
and moved slowly off into the jungle, while I waved my hat to her and
expressed my thanks for her courtesy in waiting until I had taken her
portrait. Unfortunately I had been too far off to secure a really good
photograph, which was to be regretted, for such pictures are, naturally,
extremely rare.
After her departure we moved on again. The forest grew denser; and the
thick and entangled undergrowth delayed our progress; for, of course, a
tame elephant with a pad and men on her back cannot slip through it as
easily as an unencumbered wild one can do. So we were continually
obliged to make detours and could not follow the trail closely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account