The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-02-08
My Lord the Elenhant.
LFrom Our AnimaI Friends.l ]


 When l was stationed up in the hill country some twenty years ago I used to be passionately fond of hunting. l hadn't been out from England long and the novelty of following big game had not yet lost it's charms. My duties did mot occupy great deal of my time, and l could often be absent week or ten days without serious inconvenience to any one. With couple of natives and my old "Henry" I would set forth on MoWteha, my elephant. MoWcha was an exceptionally fine specimen of his races endowed with all it's virtues and but feW of it's faults. He was strong, patient sagacious and devoted to his master. He had never been used as working elephant, but only for the pur- poses of the chase. You should have seen his unwieldy bulk making it's way noiselessly through the thick jungle grass, his great feet lifted and put down with the utmost caution, his fiex- ible trunk darting in all directions to scent the game, and his small eyes gleaming with excitement. He seemed to know instinctively the moment to fire, and then he would not move a muscle. You know it requires no small amount of nerve to stand perfectly still with Bengal devil in striped skin charging at one, and too often it hap pens that your well-directed shot is spoiled by your elephants speedy re- treat.
 The natives deemed MoWcha super- human on account of his intelligence esfoo 1,. s,l,. called him My Lord the Elephant, and treated him with greatest respect. You know the Hindu belief that the souls of one's ancestors have to reside for a period after death in the bodies of animals till they have atoned for their shortcomings on earth; and lest they might unwittingly treat some of their grandfathers or great-grandfather with disrespect, which would be a crim- inaI violation of their religion, it is their custom to give to each of their in- mates of the jungle a particular title, as, for instance, His Highness the Ti- ger, Our King the Lion, etc. So Now cha was more often addressed as My Lord the Elephant than by his real name. He was a great pet in the regiment, andafor the children at the station there was no better sport than to climb into the howdah, shrie1ing with laughter, and have a ride on Mowcha. He seemed to enjoy it as much as they did, and carried his precious burden with the greatest dignity. He was really Handsome, as elephants go, and looked his best when adorned with his scarlet | trappings and harness, and bearing the | howdah filled with merry children; and | it was a pretty sight to see them after l ward bestowing upon him his reward ! in the shape of pineapples, bananas and | r1angoes, all of which he loved to stow | away in his capaciouS stomach. I tell you all these details that you | may understand my grief when he sud- | denly disappeared one night in early | spring. My Lord the Elephant had | been restless for several days, his ma hout informed me afterward, and that | evening he had managed to break his chain and had vanished in the dark ness. Whether he had been spirited away by a clever thief. or had decided | that he had worked for man long enough and would now return to his native woods and the society of his kind, we never knew, of course: but we missed him more than one would think, and for some time the cry among the children was. "If Mowcha were only here!'
 I tried number of other elephants for my hunting, but could not fill his place; and as my duties increased about that time, my gun rarely left it's case, and my cartridge belt hung, un- used, on the wall.
 About three or four years later was invited to spend the Christmas holidays with an English friend who was giving a house party at his place further up in the hills. I easily obtained leave and