-rod of a steam-engine, or some other part of some powerful
machinery, one blow of which would almost annihilate them. This time
the noose was secured; and as soon as the cunning Bulbul saw that it was
so, she began to back towards the nearest large tree, dragging the
elephant after her, till she was able to give it a turn round the trunk.
The wild elephant did his best to break away, but she kept him tight;
at the same time she could not manage to draw him nearer to the trunk.
The other tame elephant now stepped up to her assistance, and, by
pressing his shoulder and head against the shoulder and head of the wild
one, forced him back step by step, Bulbul all the time hauling in
sagaciously on the slack of the rope, till he was brought close up to
the trunk of the tree. The cooroowe people then rushed in and secured
him to it. The nooser now passed another noose under the other hind
leg, which was secured like the first. Bulbul and her comrade now
ranged up one on each side of the poor animal, and while, as it seemed,
holding him in conversation, and consoling him for his misfortune, the
active nooser slipped under them and secured the two fore-feet as he had
done the first. The other ends of the ropes were then carried to a
tree, and secured round it immediately in front of the other. All four
legs were also hobbled together, and then the huge monster stood, in
spite of all his strength, in the most complete bondage. The ropes used
for the latter purpose were made of the kittool or jaggery palm, as they
are of a more flexible nature than those of the cocoa-nut fibre, and
less likely to cause ulcers on the poor elephants' legs.

While the treacherous tame elephants remained alongside the captive to
console him for his misfortune, he was perfectly quiet; but no sooner
were they withdrawn than he made the most violent efforts to set himself
free. His first endeavour was to untie the knots of the ropes which
bound him; but when he found that this was beyond his art, he tried to
burst them asunder. Now he leaned backwards to free the fore-feet--now
forwards to clear the hind ones, till, literally lifting them off the
ground, he balanced himself on his trunk and forefeet, lifting his hind
ones up in the air. Wonderful were the exertions he made to free
himself; and as he crushed the branches within his reach, it seemed as
if he would bring the stout tree itself to the ground. He uttered the
most terrific screams in