| Description | He keeps his earlier promise to Julia, to write about the elephants, bears and tigers he has seen. He describes a visit by 'Aunt Margaret' to Barrackpore [Barrackpur] with William and 'little Duncan' to see animals kept in the park there. There are about 200 elephants, useful to the army. William now has one of his own on loan, and wishes to buy one. There is no use for a horse and buggy where he now is, and he intends to ride an elephant instead. At Barrackpore, there were about forty or fifty at the Elephant House and he describes their shed and sleeping arrangements, and one tusked specimen, giving examples of its strength. At the menagerie he saw a sick tiger, a villainous bear (which knocked William's hat off his head) and an elegant leopard. There was a black leopard in the next cage, whose spots could be seen when the light fell the right way. There were ostriches and camels, which they fed, and an emu. There is a small monkey which runs up and down outside William's window. He promises to send a peacock's tail, five feet long, from a bird he shot. |