AN ELEPHANT STORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8949, 7 June 1907, Page 2

AN ELEPHANT STORY.

- ■-' ■♦ A STRANGE FUNERAL. A Ceylon planter tells the following remarkable clephiaait story: — "On <wio occasion I went after a herd cf eight wild elephants. After stalking I got a chance at the biggest of the herd, and dropped it at the first shot. About two hours afterwards I had the tail and feet out off and. taken to the bungalow. Next morning I went to tho spot to look at the elephant, and to* my sutpriso found no trace of the body. After searching ancmnd I found that the herd had. been back during the night, and I .soon discovered a track where they ssenie-d to Jiavo retired in a body. Following this up, I eventually came upon tho dead elephant, lying at the bottom of a rocky stream. From the tracker it was quite evident- that the body liiad not been rolled, but- carried to the bank, and it was plain that it had been take'ii thirougjh. the long giraes which grew <m tho bank into the stream. My neighbours we.ro incredulous, until I showed them where the elephant's tail and feet Ji-ad been cut off, and. where the body lay in the stream, whioh proved conclusively that by some means or ■other the body hmd been* got over the intervening space in the night. It is difficult to urtdenstiand how elephants with their trunks and feet cotildi raise and support the dead body of a. comrade. However, they seem to havo ma waged to do it, and it is a pity no human eye saw this strange funeral."