"My horse still hesitated; the Elephant observed this, and impatiently crowded himself still deeper in the jungle, repeating his cry of, '_Urmph! Urmph!_' but in a voice evidently meant to encourage us to come on. Still the horse trembled; and, anxious to observe the conduct of the two sagacious creatures, I forbore any interference. Again the Elephant wedged himself farther in among the trees and waited for us to pass him. At last the horse timidly did so, after which I saw the wise Elephant come out of the wood, take up the heavy timber upon his tusks, and resume his route, hoarsely snorting, as before, his discontented remonstrance." Although so valuable an animal for certain kinds of work, the Elephant is hardly so effective an assistant as might be supposed. The working Elephant is always a delicate animal, and requires watchfulness and care; as a beast of burden he is unsatisfactory, for, although in the matter of mere strength there is hardly any weight that could be conveniently placed on him which he could not carry, it is difficult to pack it without causing abrasions of the Elephant's skin, which afterwards ulcerate. His skin is easily chafed by harness, especially in wet weather. Either during long droughts, or too much moisture, his feet are also liable to sores which render him useless for months. In India the Elephant is used more for purposes of state display or for hunting than for hard labor. It is especially trained for tiger-hunting, and, as there is a natural dread of the terrible tiger deeply implanted in almost all Elephants, it is no easy matter to teach the animal to approach his powerful foe. A stuffed tiger-skin is employed for this purpose, and is continually shown to the Elephant until he learns to lose all distrust of the inanimate object, and to strike it, to crush it with his feet, or to pierce it with his tusks. After a while a boy is put inside the tiger-skin, in order to accustom the Elephant to the sight of the tiger in motion. [Illustration: TIGER.] The last stage in the proceedings is to procure a dead tiger, and to substitute it for the stuffed skin. Even with all this training, it most frequently happens that when the Elephant is brought to face a veritable living tiger the furious bounds, the savage yells, and gleaming eyes of the beast are so terrifying that he turns tail and makes a hasty retreat. Hardly one Elephant out of ten will face an angry tiger. The Elephant, when used in tiger-hunting, is always guided by a native driver, called a mahout, who sits astride of the animal's neck and guides its movements by means of the voice and the use of an iron hook at the end of a short stick. [Illustration: THE TIGER IN THE REEDS.]