Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-04-24
AN ELEPHANT THAT FISHES.
n. WRITMORE.
Publisher and Proprietor.

The following curious anecdOte
is from a book about elephants,
written by a French gentleman
named Jacolliot:
In the autumn Of 1876 was liv-
ing in the interior of Bengal, and l
went to spend Christmas with my
friend Major DAILY. The Majors
bungalow was on the banks Of the
Ganges, near Cawnpore. he had
lived there good many years, be-
ing chief of the quartermaster's de-
partment at that station, and had
great many natives, elephants, bull
lock-carts and soldiers under his
command.
On the morning after my arrival,
after a cup of tea (often taken be-
fore daylight in India), sat smok-
ing with my friend in the yeranda
of his bungalow, looking out upon
the windings of the sacred river.
And directly asked the major
about his children IA boy and a
| girl), whom l had not yet seen, and
begged to know when should see
them.
"Soupramany has taken them
out fishing" said their father.
" Why, isn't Soapramany your
great war-elephant?" | cried.
Exactly so. You cannot have
forgotten Soupramany "
"0f course not. ! was here, you
know, when he had that fight with
the elephant who went mad while
loading a transport with bags of
rice down yender. | saw the mad
elephant when he suddenly began
to fling the rice into the river, His
'mahout' tried to stop him, and he
killed the mah6ut. The native
sailors ran away to hide themselves,
and the mad elephant, tfpmpeting,
charged into this enclosure. Old
Soupramany was here, and SO were
Jim and Bessy. When he saw the
mad animal he threw himself be-
tween him and the children. The
little ones and their nurses had just
time to get into the house when the
| fight commenced. "
eyes" said the major "0ld
Soup was a hundred years old. He
had been trained TO war, and to
fight with the rhinoceros, but he
was too old to hunt them
"And yet" said !, becoming ami
mated by the recollections of that
day, "what a gallant 6ght it was J
Do you reember how we all stood
on this porch and watched it, not
daring to fire a shot lest we should
hit Old Soupramany? Do you, re-
member, too, his look when he
drew off, after fighting an hour and
a half, leaving his adversary dying
in the dust, and walked straight to
the corral, shaking his great ears
which had been badly torn, with
his head bruised, and great piece
broken from one of his tusks?"
"Yes, indeed" aaid the major.
"Well, since then, be is more de-
voted to my dear little ones than
ever. He takes them out whole
days, and | am perfectly content to
have them under his charge. !
don't like trusting Christian chill
dren to the care of natives, but with
Old Soup / know they can come To
no harm" 9s
Beside the children, on the banks
Of the Ganges, stood Old Soup with
a tamboo rod in his trunk, with
line, hook, bait, and cork, like the
children's. / had not watched him
long before he had q bite; for, as
the religion Of the Hindoos forbids
them to take life, the river swarms
! with fishes.
The old fellow did not stir; his
little eyes watched his line eagerly;
he was no novice in the "gentle
craft" He was waiting till it was
time to draw in his prize.
At the end of his line, as he drew
it up, was dangling one Of those
golden tench SO abundant in the
Ganges.
When Soupramany perceived
what a fine fish be had caught, he
uttered one of those long, low
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