MENTAL CAPACITY OF THE ELEPHANT. 501 



But in our dealings with incontestable facts none of the many 

 sagacity-stories alluded to can be used. We are, therefore, for the 

 reasons just given, compelled to find the most of our evidences of in- 

 dependent reasoning in wild elephants. The writer has frequently 

 seen wild elephants 



1. Reconnoitre dangerous ground by sending a scout or spy. 



2. Communicate intelligence by signs. 



3. Retreat in orderly silence from a lurking danger. 



4. Invariably march in single file, like the jungle tribes of men. 

 Having on one occasion in hunting elephants approached to within 



fifty yards of the stragglers of a large herd of about thirty animals, 

 which was scattered over about four acres of very open forest and 

 quietly feeding, certain individuals of the herd on the side nearest us 

 suddenly suspected danger. One of them elevated his trunk with the 

 tip bent forward, and scented the air from various points of the com- 

 pass, a sure sign of danger suspected. A moment later an old ele- 

 phant left the herd and started straight for our ambush, scenting the 

 air with upraised trunk as he slowly and noiselessly advanced. We 

 instantly retreated, unobserved and unheard, and the elephant ad- 

 vanced until he reached the identical spot where we had a moment 

 before been concealed. He paused and stood motionless as a statue 

 for about two minutes, then wheeled about and quickly but noiselessly 

 rejoined the herd. In less than half a minute the whole herd was in 

 motion, heading directly away from us, moving very rapidly but 

 icithout the slightest noise. The huge animals simply vanished like 

 shadows into the forest. The entire herd formed in single file before 

 proceeding a quarter of a mile, and continued strictly in that order, 

 one directly behind another, for several miles. Like the human 

 dwellers in the jungle, the elephants know that the easiest and most 

 expeditious way for a large body of animals to traverse a tangled for- 

 est is for the leader to pick the way, while all the rest follow in his 

 footsteps. 



In strong contrast with the stealthy and noiseless manner in which 

 elephants steal away from a lurking danger or ambush discovered, 

 from an open attack, accompanied with the noise of fire-arms, they 

 rush away at headlong speed, quite regardless of the noise they make. 

 On one occasion a herd which I was designing to attack, and had ap- 

 proached to within forty yards on one side, as they were feeding in 

 some thick bushes, discovered my presence and retreated so silently 

 that they had been gone five minutes before I discovered what their 

 sudden quietude really meant. In this instance, also, the alarm was 

 communicated by silent signals, or sign-language. 



Tame elephants are never known to tread on the feet of their at- 

 tendants or knock them down by accident ; or, at least, no instances 

 of the kind have ever come to my knowledge. The elephant's feet 

 are very large, his range of vision is very circumscribed, and his ex- 



