5 02 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



treme and wholly voluntary solicitude for the safety of his human 

 attendants can not be due to anything else than independent reasoning. 

 The most intelligent dog is apt to greet his master by planting a pair 

 of dirty paws on his coat or trousers. The most sensible carriage-horse 

 is liable to step on his master's foot or crowd him against a wall in 

 a moment of excitement ; but even inside the kedclah, with wild ele- 

 phants all about, and a captive elephant hemmed in by two, three, or 

 four tame ones, the noosers actually work under the bodies and be- 

 tween the feet of the tame animal* until the feet of the captive are 

 tied. 



All who have witnessed the tying of captives, one by one, in a 

 keddah, wherein a whole wild herd have been entrapped, testify to 

 the human-like quality of intelligence displayed by all the tame ele- 

 phants who assist in the tying and leading out and subjugation of the 

 captives. They enter into the business with both spirit and under- 

 standing, and as occasion requires will deceitfully cajole or vigorously 

 punish a troublesome captive. Sir Emerson Tennent asserts that the 

 tame elephants display the most perfect conception of every move- 

 ment, both of the object to be attained and the means to accomplish 

 it. While this statement probably exceeds the exact truth, it truth- 

 fully conveys the impression made upon the beholder. 



We come now to the second intellectual quality, or memory. 



So far as this may be regarded as an index of an animal's mental 

 capacity, the weight of evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the 

 elephant. Every one who attended either Barnum's or Forepaugh's 

 circus during the last year witnessed an imitation military drill per- 

 formed by from twelve to sixteen elephants, which, in animals of any 

 other species, would be considered a most remarkable performance. 

 The following were the commands given by the trainer, understood 

 and remembered by each elephant, and executed without an instant's 

 hesitation or any mistake. These we will call the 



Accomplishments of Performing Elephants. 



1. Fall in line. 



2. Roll-call. (As each elephant's name is called, he takes his place 

 in another rank.) 



3. Present arms. (Trunk uplifted, with tip curved forward and 

 held in that position for a short time.) 



4. Forward, march. 



5. File left, march. 



G. Right about face, march. 



7. Left about face, march. 



8. Right by twos, march. 



9. Double quick, march. 



10. Single file, march. 



11. File right. 



