3-034-718 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Indian Desert", by Decamps, 1871. Engraving of a painting. 'It is late evening or early morning when the denizens of the Indian desert seek the cool water-courses to slake their burning thirst. Now slink forth the leopard and the tiger from the tangled covert of the jungle, and the cumbrous elephant frisks over the plain from the shades of the forest. Two of the wild creatures meet at the stream that is equally coveted by both. Neither will give way, but each distrusts the other. The elephant has wandered a little from his herd, the leopard prowls alone, like the beast of prey that he is...How terrifically the great, black, towering mass of the elephant looms against the faint light of the horizon! How extreme is the contrast between the two creatures in every particular! The one comparatively small, but of strength all compact, and armed at all points; lithe, swift, and ferocious, he may in a moment, with a dash and spring, gain the mastery. The other, an erect Colossus, slow but sagacious, unwieldy, but possessed of a ponderous, irresistible force, one blow from whose tusks, or trunk, or feet would be instant death'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.