Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-02-03

To see an elephant roll down preci-
picc head. d.ovcr-hccls must be raro and
exciting scene, and amusing, too when
nobody, not even the principal actor in
the drama, suStalns any injury. The
officer in charge of the Government elc-
phant-cat ching establishment in India re-
latcs the following incident The officer
and u large body Of native servants were
taking herd Of elephants through the
country, when they came to tho foot of a
steep ascent, in which was pass where
they could only 20 in single file, and
which took much time to get over.
81 saw" says the officer "that we
should be kept for hours if this were the
only way up, but felt assured that the
opposite side of the spur, round which
the nullah wound, must be at least as
easy as this; so leaving Sergeant Carter
and half the following to get up by the
first route, took all the elephants and
the rest of the men along the nullah and
round the spur, where VIC put the ele-
plants at the steep ascent, the unloaded
ones taking the lead and breaking down
the bamboos and long grass After
tedious climb under hot sun, we reached
level saddle on thctop at twelve o'clock;
ut the same time Sergeant Carter brought
up the last of his detachment.
THE men now proceeded lis along the
narrow saddle, whilst the elephants rested
to cool and feed after their climb, and
we followed in an hour. The saddle was
exceedingly narrow, and obStulcted with
bamboos and the everlasting grass, and
mishap o"' cured in the worst part of the
way, which, fortunately, was not as
serious as it might have boon.
cone elephant, Chumpa, was leading,
mine being second at the time, when
large portion Of earth over which she was
passing suddenly gave away, and with
below of fright poor Chumpa slid down
some yards, and then rolled over and
over five distinct times down the steep
grass hill, and Just stopped short of deep
ravinc, at the bottom.
at was terrible sight to SEQ an ele~
phant, toes up, making such rolls. The
mahout saved himself by jumping off when
the earth slipped, and clinging to the
grass. sprong from my elephant in
stantly. As Chumpa made no sound
when she got to the bottom, l feared she
must be killed. There was a great
smashing of pots and pans during her
roll, for she carried the native doctors
effects, amongst which were his live stock,
consisting of eight ducks.
"Looking down the long lane of grass.
was relieved to see Chumpa getting on
to her feet; her gear was left halfway,
the girth.ropeS having broken. Her
mahout, like many natives when suddenly
confronted by danger or difficulty, had
quite lost his senses, and now commenced
to beat his mouth and cry that the ele-
phant was dead, gave him box on
the car that sent him flying down the
slippery lane after his elephant which he
nearly reached before he stopped, l fol-
lowed, holding on by tho grass, and VIC
tried TO sootho the poor beast after her
fright. She did not seem hurt, and we
got her on the path again with some
trouble.
81 had often passed prccipitous places
on elephants, with my legs dangling over
vacuity. made mental note OF this
occurrence, and decided iu future to turn
the other way, SO as to be able to jump
on to terra frEm, not into space with u.
elepeant after me, in case of u roll. -
YOUTHS Companion.