"Sir," he said at length, "I think I have found means for our transport."
"What is it?"
"An elephant. It belongs to a native who lives close by."
"Let us go and see this animal," said Mr. Fogg. Five minutes later Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg, accompanied by Passe-partout, reached the hut, which was surrounded by a palisade. In the hut resided the native; inside the palisade the elephant lived. The former introduced the new arrivals to the latter, at their particular request.
They found that the animal was half domesticated; it had originally been purchased for a fighting elephant, not for carrying purposes. With this end in view, the owner had begun to alter the naturally placid disposition of the beast by irritating him, and getting him gradually up to that pitch of fury called "mutsh" by the Hindoos, and this is done by feeding the elephant on sugar and butter for three months. This at first sight would appear scarcely the treatment likely to conduce to such an object, but it is successfully employed.
Fortunately, however, for Mr. Fogg, the elephant in question had not been subjected to this treatment for a very long time, and the "mutsh" had not appeared.
Kiouni—for so was the animal called—was no doubt quite competent to perform the journey required, and in the absence of other conveyance, Phileas Fogg determined to hire him.
But elephants in India are dear, for they are becoming somewhat scarce. The males, which only are suited to the circus training, are much in request. They seldom breed when in a domesticated state, so they can only be procured by hunting. They are, therefore, the objects of much solicitude, and when Mr. Fogg asked the owner what he could hire his elephant for, the man declined point-blank to lend him at all.
Fogg persisted, and offered ten pounds an hour for the beast! It was refused. Twenty? Still refused. Forty? Declined with thanks. Passe-partout actually jumped at each "bid." But the native would not yield to the temptation.
Nevertheless the price tendered was a handsome one. Supposing that the elephant took fifteen hours to reach Allahabad, the price would amount to six hundred pounds!