side without any sign of life, now plunging madly round with the ridiculous boat in tow. That it would have drowned ultimately seemed beyond doubt, but on a sudden the great thing’s intelligence supplemented that of the human beings who were with it, and making up its’ mind that life was worth another effort, and that the ship was unscalable, the elephant began to swim. Again and again, before it reached the first sandbank, its strength or pluck failed; but the boat was always at hand to encourage or irritate it to renewed exertions, and so at last, after nearly four hours’ immersion, the first Behemoth got on shore. Away in the distance those watching from the ship could make out the great black bulk creeping up the sward. Under a tree close by stood its attendant, and in the enjoyment of the monstrous cakes of sugar, rum, flour, and spices which had been prepared for it, and the luxury of a careful rubbing down with warm blankets, the Captain Webb of the elephant world recovered its equanimity and spirits.
Her companions, the Flower Garland, Beauty, and the Wonder-Inspirer, emboldened by Budding Lily’s performance, soon joined her on African soil.
The object of their deportation was twofold, for they had in the first place to prove, in their own persons, the adaptability of their kind to be the carriers of merchandise across the Central African solitudes, and in the next to tame and civilize to the service of man the great herds of their wild congeners, the, African elephants, roaming in the forests through which the highways of Arab trade now pass.
There is very little difference between the two species, the Indian and the African. The latter has much larger
