hours."

"That was very cunning, Uncle Thomas. The keepers seem to attain great
ascendency over the animals."

"The attachment of the elephant to its keeper, and the command which
some of these men acquire over the objects of their care by appealing
to their affections is very extraordinary. The mere sound of the
keeper's voice has been known to reclaim an animal which escaped from
domestication and resumed its original freedom:--

"A female elephant, belonging to a gentleman in Calcutta, who was
ordered from the upper country to Chittagong, in the route thither,
broke loose from her keeper, and, making her way to the woods, was lost.
The keeper made every excuse to vindicate himself, which the master of
the animal would not listen to, but branded the man with dishonesty; for
it was instantly supposed that he had sold the elephant. He was tried
for it, and condemned to work on the roads for life, and his wife and
children sold for slaves.

"About twelve years afterwards, this man, who was known to be well
acquainted with breaking elephants, was sent into the country with a
party to assist in catching wild ones. They came upon a herd, amongst
which the man fancied he saw the long-lost elephant for which he had
been condemned. He resolved to approach it, nor could the strongest
remonstrances of the party dissuade him from the attempt. As he
approached the animal, he called her by name, when she immediately
recognised his voice; she waved her trunk in the air as a token of
salutation, and kneeling down, allowed him to mount her neck. She
afterwards assisted in taking other elephants, and decoyed three young