RAMMING A JAM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 233, 1 October 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

RAMMING A JAM.

- "AN ELEPHANT SQUEEZE. When I read the other day of how it took two policemen, the taxi driver and a husband half an hour to release a stout woman who had got,wedged in the doorway of a London taxi it reminded me (writes a correspondent) of how- an. elephant dealt with a similar situation. Some years ago in the Malay States about a dozen elephants were taking the .baggage of some Europeans.down the Perak Valley side of -the Tapping ;Pass. Not all the elephants carried 1 baggage, as some were not trained sufficiently and some were too young. ■ The mother of a baby'elephant was a carrier, but, as j was customary, she deputed one -of thefree elephants to act as nurse to her baby. The little elephant was, very frolicsome, chasing Chinese coolies into the jungle whenever opportunity occurred, and, accordingly, getting left behind a bit. Near the bottom of the pass a huge jungle tree had fallen across the track, and an opening had already been chopped in the trunk large enough for a coolie to pass through but not an elephant. As they came to- this tree one by one the elephants turned and walked alongside the trunk until they came to where it was small enough for them to step over. They all waited on the other eide for the youngster, who was, as usual, somewhere behind, and nothing would induce them to move on. The baby elephant at last appeared in a hurry and at once made for the gap, but got stuck faet and started to squeal. Mother beat the ground with her trunk, but the nurse quietly retraced her steps to where the youngster was. She took in the situation at a glance, made two or three steps backwards, and then ran at baby's hindquarters with her head down and shot him hurtling through the gap. Baby trotted on none the worse for the adventure, whilst nurse rejoined the othere with a knowing look in her eye.