The wild elephant and the method of capturing and taming it in Ceylon . brow, and pressed down his doubled-in trunk as thoughhe would force it into the earth ; then suddenly risinghe balanced himself on his forehead and fore-legs, hold-ing his hind-feet fairly off the ground. This scene ofdistress continued some hours, with occasional pauses ofapparent stupor, after which the struggle was from time Largesse. 127 to time renewed convulsively, and as if by some suddenimpulse; but at last the vain strife subsided, and thepoor animal remained perfectly motionless, the imageof exhaustion and despai
The wild elephant and the method of capturing and taming it in Ceylon . brow, and pressed down his doubled-in trunk as thoughhe would force it into the earth ; then suddenly risinghe balanced himself on his forehead and fore-legs, hold-ing his hind-feet fairly off the ground. This scene ofdistress continued some hours, with occasional pauses ofapparent stupor, after which the struggle was from time Largesse. 127 to time renewed convulsively, and as if by some suddenimpulse; but at last the vain strife subsided, and thepoor animal remained perfectly motionless, the imageof exhaustion and despair. Meanwhile Ranghani presented himself in front ofthe Governors stage to claim the accustomed largessefor tying the first elephant. He was rewarded by a. shower of rupees, and retired to resume his perilousduties in the corral. The rest of the herd were now in a state of pitiabledejection, and pressed closely together as if under asense of common misfortune. For the most part theystood at rest in a compact body, fretful and intervals one more impatient than the rest wouldmove out a few steps to reconnoitre ; the others would 128 The Wild Elephant. follow at first slowly, then at a quicker pace, and at lastthe whole herd would rush off furiously to renew theoften-baffled attempt to storm the stockade. There was a strange combination of the sublime andthe ridiculous in these abortive onsets ; the appearanceof prodigious power in their ponderous limbs, coupledwith the almost ludicrous shuffle of their clumsy gait,and the fury of their apparently resistless charge, con-verted in an instant into timid retreat. They rushedmadly down the enclosure, their backs arched, theirtails extended, their ears spread, and their trunks raisedhi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidwild, booksubjectelephants
