THE ELEPHANT. 4J 



great, that a given time for rendering them safely manage- 

 able can hardly be assigned. An instance has occurred where 

 every effort has been made for ten years to reduce an elephant 

 to obedience, but in vain. This animal was repeatedly offered 

 for sale at a low price, but his character was so well known 

 that no one would purchase him-. 



The process of training an elephant, so that he shall per- 

 form the ordinary duties and learn to be guided from place 

 to place, is mostly effected by a series of coaxings and re- 

 wards, rarely of punishment. He is entirely under the care 

 of one individual, who is destined to be his future conductor. 

 This man, seated on his neck, guides him by means of an 

 iron instrument shaped like a boat-hook, called theHawkniss. 

 With this he twitches his ear, or presses the point on his 

 head or neck ; which actions being combined with pressure 

 of the knees on the sides of the neck, the elephant learns to 

 understand as the horse does the applications of the bitt or 

 spur. Instances, however, have occurred where an inju- 

 dicious and brutal use of the hawkniss has so enraged the 

 noble animal that he has torn his driver from his seat, and 

 dashed him to pieces. 



Notwithstanding the massiveness of his frame, the elephant 

 is not without a certain degree of lightness in his motions. 

 He has a tolerably quick trot, and easily overtakes a man at 

 full speed ; but as he cannot turn rapidly, one may escape by 

 turning suddenly to one side. Being specifically lighter than 

 water, he easily swims ; and his motions in that element are 

 of the most free and lively description. Every one who en- 

 joyed the sight of the elephant sporting in his bath at the 

 Zoological Gardens during the summer of last year must ac- 

 knowledge the gratification and surprise excited by the ease 

 and variety of his actions. Notwithstanding, however, the 

 liberal space allowed for his paddock and pond, our sagacious 

 animal seemed not contented until he had rendered his do- 

 main still more analogous to the favourite haunts of his spe- 

 cies in their native clime. This he effected by forming a 

 miniature swamp in the immediate proximity of his pond, 

 pumping up with his proboscis repeated quantities of water, 

 and treading it into the soil, which thus was soon converted 

 into a mud bath of a few feet in depth. In this he seemed 

 peculiarly delighted, rubbing and rolling himself about, and 

 expressing his gratification at the same time by uttering pe- 

 culiar shrill guttural notes, and flapping his ears. 



In a state of nature this species prefers the banks of rivers, 

 for heat as well as cold annoys him. He is under a constant 

 necessity of moistening his hard and rough skin, which other- 



