5 <h THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



4: To lie clown to be washed, first on one side and then on the 

 other. 



5. To open the mouth. 



6. To " hand up " any article from the ground to the reach of a 

 person riding. 



7. To pull down an obstructing bough. 



8. To halt. 



9. To back. 



10. To pick up the end of a drag-rope and place it between the teeth. 



11. To drag a timber. 



12. To kneel and with the head turn a log over, or turn it with the 

 tusks if any are present. 



13. To push a log into position parallel with others. 



14. To balance and carry timbers on the tusks, if possessing tusks 

 of sufficient size. 



15. To " speak," or trumpet. 



16. To work in harness. 



In all, sixteen distinct acts. 



Every working elephant in India is supposed to possess the intel- 

 ligence necessary to the performance of any of the acts enumerated 

 above at the command of his driver, either by spoken words, a pressure 

 of the knees or feet, or a touch with the driving goad. For the sake of 

 generalization I have purposely excluded from this list all tricks and 

 accomplishments which are not universally taught to working ele- 

 phants. We have seen, however, that performing elephants are capa- 

 ble of executing nearly double the number of acts commonly taught 

 to the workers ; and, while it is useless to speculate upon the subject, 

 it must be admitted that, were a trainer to test an elephant's memory 

 by ascertaining the exact number of commands it could remember and 

 execute in rotation, the result would far exceed anything yet obtained. 

 For my own part, I believe it would exceed a hundred, if not many 

 times that figure. The performance in the circus-ring is limited by 

 time and space, and not by the mental capacity of the elephants. 



When we come to consider the comparative comprehension of ani- 

 mals under man's tuition, we find the elephant without a rival. 



On account of the fact that an elephant is about eighteen years in 

 coming to anything like maturity, according to the Indian Govern- 

 ment standard for working animals, it is far more economical and ex- 

 peditious to catch full-grown elephants in their native jungles than it 

 would be to breed and rear them. About ninety per cent of all the 

 elephants now living in captivity were caught in a wild state and tamed, 

 and of the remainder at least eight per cent were born in captivity of 

 females that were gravid when captured. It will be seen, therefore, 

 that the elephant has derived no advantage whatever from ancestral 

 association with man, added to the most careful selection and breeding 

 which, all combined, have made the colly, the pointer, and the setter 



