Syo 



THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June 2, 1884. 



THE ASUTIO ELEPHANT IN FKEEDOM AND 

 OAPTIYITY. 



BY O. P. SANDERSON, 



Superintendent of Government Eleplmnt-catchiny Operations in 

 Bengal.. 

 "Whilst the popular interest felt in the elephant is, perhaps, 

 greater than that attaching to any other wilil animal, I 

 think it may be safely said that regarding none, tamo or 

 wild, do more fallacious impressions exist. 



The peculiar opportunities which l\avo been afforded me 

 during fifteen out of nearly twenty years spent in Didia, 

 of obserring the elephant in its wild and domesticated 

 states — opportunities which it lias been at once my duty as a 

 public servant, and my deliglit as a sportsman, to make the 

 most of — hare induced mo to believe that what I may be 

 able to tell you tonight, regarding some of the most interest- 

 ing features of the Asiatic elephant, may be acceptable to 

 you, as being facts, and perhaps be of some small serrice 

 to the cause of natural history. I will first commence with 

 a few remarks on the elephant's inteihgence. 



The elephant's size and staid appearance, its gentleness, 

 and the ease with which it performs various services with 

 its trunk, have given rise to the exalted idea of its intellect 

 that prevails among those not intimately acquainted with 

 it. And its being but little known in Europe, whilst that 

 is known of it justly makes it a favourite, leads to tales 

 of its intelligence being not only welcomed with pleasure, 

 but accepted without investigation. Many elephant stories 

 are intended for the amusement of little folk; but in a 

 sober inquiry into the mental capacity of the animal, they 

 must not be accepted as facts. 



The opinion is generally held by those who have had the 

 best opportunities of observing the elephant, that the popular 

 cstunate of its intelligence is a greatly e.taggerated one; 

 that, instead of being an exceptionally wise animal, its 

 sagacity is of a very mediocre description. The truth of this 

 opinion no one wlio has lived amongst elephants can doubt. 

 It is a significant fact that the natives of India never speak 

 of the elephant as a peculiarly mtelligeut animal, and it 

 does not figure in their ancient literature for its wisdom, 

 as do the fox, the crow, and the monkey. 



One of the strongest features in the domesticated elephant's 

 character is its obedience. It maj* also be readily taught, 

 as it has a large share of the ordinary cultivable intelligence 

 common, in a greater or less degree, to .all animals. P.ut 

 its reasoning faculties are luidoubtcdly far below those of 

 the dog, and possibly of other animals; and it matters 

 beyond the range of its daily experience it evinces no 

 special discernment. Whilst fairly quick at comprehending 

 anything sought to be taught to it, the elephant is decidedly 

 wanting in originality. To begin with, the elephant displays 

 less intelligence in its natural state than most wild animals. 

 'Whole herds are driven into ill-concealed enclosures, which 

 no other forest creatures could be got to enter; and though 

 these enclosures are made immensely strong, and are generally 

 capable of resisting the efforts of any single elephant, they 

 would not for a moment withst-and the combined attack of 

 even two or three, much less of a whole herd. But ele- 

 phants never thus combine to free themselves. I have 

 frequently seen fifty or sixty crowded into a stockade only 

 thirty yards in diameter, the palisades of which would have 

 been of no more account than corn-stalks before the rush 

 of three or four of them, but no such rush has been made. 

 More significant stUl, I have, on several occasions, seen a 

 single elephant in a herd, by a bold dash, burst through the 

 palisade and effect its escape, but I never yet saw any other 

 elephant follow, and the hunters have at once repaired the 

 breach. 



When a herd of wild elephants is secured within a stockade, 

 or V]ie(tfhO(, the mahouts ride trained elephants amongst the 

 wild ones without fear, though any one of the wild ones 

 might, by a movement of its trunk, dislodge the men. This 

 they never do. Single elephants are caught by being bound 

 to trees by men under cover of a couple of tame elephants, 

 the wild one being ignorant of what is going on until he 

 finds himself secured. Escaped elephants .are retaken with- 

 out trouble; even experience does not bring them wisdom. 

 Almost yearly, one or two tame elephants of the hmiting 

 establishment at Dacca are lost in the junglrs by straying 

 or obtiT accident whilst engaged in the capture of their 

 fellows. As an example, in December 1878, an elephant 



which had been captured three years, and partially trained 

 to hunting, took fright at the fires and gims used in driv- 

 mg a herd and ran away. Her mahout fell off, and nothing 

 more was seen of her until March last, when we re-capt- 

 ured her after four and a half years' absence, in a herd 

 of twenty-one elephants, 100 miles from where she was 

 lost. She had a calf at heel. "When pricked with a spear 

 and ordered to kneel, she did so promptly, and in three 

 days she and another reclaimed runaway were employed in 

 the capture of their fellows. While such facts testify to 

 the docility of the elephant, they tell heavily against its 

 intelligence. 



Though possessed of a proboscis which is capable of guard- 

 ing it against such dangers, the wild elephant readily falls 

 into pits dug in its path; whil.st its fellows flee in terror, 

 making no olfort to assist the fallen one, as they might 

 easily do by kicking in the earth around the pit. It com- 

 monly happens that a young elephant falls into a pit, in 

 which case the mother will remain until the himters come, 

 without doing anything to assist her offspring, not even 

 feeding it by throwing in a few branches. 



In its domesticated state one of l;he elephant's chief 

 characteristics is, as before stated, its obedience; and it 

 does maay things at the slightest hmt from its mahout 

 which much impress the ou-Iooker unaequ,aiuted with the 

 craft of elephant-guidance. The driver's knees are placed 

 behind an elephant's ears as he sits on it, and it is by 

 means of a push, pressure, and other motions that his 

 directions are communicated, as with the pressure of the 

 leg with trained horses in a chcus. It would bo as reason- 

 able, however, to credit performing dogs which .spell out 

 replies to questions with knowing what they are saying, as 

 elephants with appreciating the objix'ts to be gained by 

 much which they do under the direction of their riders. 

 Then as to the stories regarding the elephant's reason- 

 ing powers, what an improbable one is that of the elephant 

 and the tailor, wherein the animal on bemg pricked with 

 a needle instead of being fed with sweetmeats as usual, is 

 represented as having deUberately gone to a pond, filled 

 its trunk with dirty water and returned and squirted it over 

 the tailor and his work. This story accredits the elephant 

 with appreciating the fact that throwiug dirty water over 

 his work would be the peculiar manner in which to annoy 

 the tailor! How has he acquired the knowledge of the 

 incongruity of the two things, dirty water and clean linen? 

 He ihlights in water himself, and would, therefore, be un- 

 likely to imagine it objectionable to another. If the ele- 

 phant were possessed of the amount of discernment with 

 which he is commonly credited, is it reasonable to sup- 

 Iiose th.at he would, continue to labour for man instead of 

 turning into the nearest jungle? A\'e commonly use elcp't- 

 ants to carry provisions for the hunting parties througa 

 the same forests wherein they were disporting themselves 

 as wild animals less than a year ago. That they thus 

 submit must be regarded as more creditable to their good 

 dispositions than to their good sense. 



xVU who have had to deal with elephants will agree that 

 their good qualities cannot be exaggerated ; that their vices 

 are few. and only occur in exceptional animals ; that they 

 are neither treacherous nor retentive of an injury ; and 

 that they are obedient, gentle, and patient beyond all other 

 domestic animals. But it is no traducemcnt of the elephant 

 to say that it is, in many things, a decidedly stupid animal. 

 Another matter upon which much misapprehension exists 

 is the height to which elephants grow. We hear and read 

 of Indian eleph.ants 12, 15, even 20 feet high '. As a matter 

 of fact, 10 feet in males, and S feet 6 inches in females 

 (vertical height at the shoulders, measured as a horse), is 

 very rarely attained, and is not exceeded by one animal 

 in 500. As bearing on this subject, I may ((Uote the fol- 

 lowing from the '• English Cycloprodia." The Mr. Corse 

 referred to therein was a gentleman thoroughly conserv- 

 ant with the Indian elephant. A valuable paper of his 

 on the subject w.as read before the Royal Society in 17!)!). 

 " During the war with Tipjioo Sultan, of the ITiO eleph- 

 ants under t 'ai>tain Sandys, not one was 10 feet high, 

 and oidy a few males f)^ feet high. Mr. Corse was very 

 particular in ascertaining the height of the (?K*ph.aiits usc^l 

 at Madras, and with the army uinler Marquis Cornwallis, 

 where there were both liongal and fU;ylou elephants, anil 

 he was assured that those of Ceylon wen^ ntnther higher 

 nor superior t« those of Bengal." 



