AN ELEPHANT IN A PANIC.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2651, 30 October 1906, Page 2

AN ELEPHANT IN A PANIC.

"I once," says Sir Samuel Baket. in "Wild Beasts and their Ways," saw a ridiculous example of sudden panic in an otherwise most depend- . able elephant. This was a large male belonging to the Ciovernnient, which had been lent to me for a few months and was thoroughly staunch when opposed to a charging tiger ; in fact. I believe that Moolah Bux was afraid of nothing, and he was the best shikar elephant T have ever ridden. One day we were driving a rocky hill for a tiger that was supposed to be concealed somewhere among the high grass and broken boulders, and. as tho line of beaters was advancing I backed the elephant into some thick jungle, which commanded an open bid narrow glade at. the foot of the low hill. Only the face of the elephant was exposed, and as this was greyish brown, something similar to the colour of the leafless bushes we wetv hardly noticeable to anything that might break covert. The elephant thoroughly understood the work in hand, and as the loud yells mil roars of the beaters came nearw, Moolah Bux pricked up his ears and kcp*t a vigilant look-out. Suddenly a hare emerged about a hundred yards distant ; without observing our wellconcealed position, it raced at full speed directly towards us. and in a few seconds it ran almost b twen the elephant's legs as it mode for Ihe protection of the jungle. The mighty Moolah Bux fairly bolted with a mid den terror as this harmless and I hi) creature dashed beneath him, and a' though he recovered himself after I'm or six yards, nevertheless, for the moment the terrified monster would have been scared almost by a mouse."