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G. P. Sanderson, the superintendent of the Government keddahs in Assam, gives a vivid description of an elephant that escaped after killing its mahout and several villagers in the neighbourhood. This animal, like Colonel Bloomfield's elephant, already described, became the terror of the district, and destroyed many villagers, until it was decided by the authorities to attempt its destruction. Mr.
"Must I never go there, Sahib?" asked Little Toomai with a big gasp. "Yes." Petersen Sahib smiled again. "When thou hast seen the elephants dance. That is the proper time. Come to me when thou hast seen the elephants dance, and then I will let thee go into all the Keddahs." There was another roar of laughter, for that is an old joke among elephant-catchers, and it means just never.
And at last, when the flames died down, and the red light of the logs made the elephants look as though they had been dipped in blood too, Machua Appa, the head of all the drivers of all the Keddahs Machua Appa, Petersen Sahib's other self, who had never seen a made road in forty years: Machua Appa, who was so great that he had no other name than Machua Appa, leaped to his feet, with Little Toomai held high in the air above his head, and shouted: "Listen, my brothers.
"A boy who can face a full Keddah at his age does not end in jails. See, little one, here are four annas to spend in sweetmeats because thou hast a little head under that great thatch of hair. In time thou mayest become a hunter too." Big Toomai scowled more than ever. "Remember, though, that Keddahs are not good for children to play in," Petersen Sahib went on.
There are forests of it, and large companies exist simply for getting it out. There are still herds of wild elephants in the little disturbed parts of Burma, and every now and again Government catches them in keddahs in great quantities. I wish we had the luck to go with a hunting-party.
G. P. Sanderson, the superintendent of the keddahs, I was supplied with the necessary elephants. Sanderson at Rohumari, about 38 miles below Dhubri, on the Brahmaputra. I had a scratch pack of twelve elephants, including some that had been sent forward from the keddahs, and others kindly lent by the Ranee of Bijni.
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