ELEPHANT GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 397 



some considerable space to the narration of instances of 

 its display. The general fact that elephants are habitually 

 employed in certain parts of India for the purposes of 

 building, storing timber, &c., in itself shows a level of 

 docile intelligence which only that of the dog can rival ; 

 but I shall here confine myself to stating special instances 

 of the display of sagacity unusually high, even for the 

 elephant. 



Capt. Shipp, in his 'Memoirs,' gives the following 

 incident, of which he was an eye-witness. During a march 

 with guns in the mountainous districts of India, the force 

 of which he was a member came to a steep ascent. A 

 staircase of logs was prepared to enable the elephants to 

 iscend the slope. When all was ready the first elephant 

 was led to the bottom of the staircase : 



He looked up, shook his head, and when forced by his 

 driver, roared piteously. There can be no question, in my 

 opinion, but that this sagacious animal was competent instinc- 

 tively to judge of the practicability of the artificial flight of steps 

 thus constructed ; for the moment some little alteration had 

 been made, he seemed willing to approach. He then com- 

 menced his examination and scrutiny by pressing with his 

 trunk the trees that had been thrown across ; and after this he 

 put his fore-leg on with great caution. . . . The next step for 

 him to ascend by was a projecting rock, which he could not 

 remove. Here the same sagacious examination took place, the 

 elephant keeping his flat side close to the side of the trunk, and 

 leaning against it. The next step was against a tree, but this, 

 on the first pressure of his trunk, he did not like. Here the 

 driver made use of the most endearing epithets, such as 

 ' Wonderful,' ' My life,' ' Well done, my dear,' ' My dove,' * My 

 son,' ' My wife ; ' but all these endearing appellations, of which 

 elephants are so fond, would not induce him to try again. 

 Force was at length resorted to, and the elephant roared terri- 

 fically, but would not move. 



Something was then altered, the elephant was satisfied, 

 and at last succeeded in mounting to the top of the stair- 

 case : 



On reaching the top his delight was visible in a most eminent 

 degree ; he caressed his keepers, and threw dirt about in a most 

 plavful manner. Another elephant, a much younger animal, 



