876 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June 2, 1884. 



timber supply and climate ; and as long as its haunts re- 

 main, the ciophant mvist flourish under due regulations 

 for its protection. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. A. D. Bartlett said he had had many years' experience 

 of elephant.s, but only amongst those in captivity. He had 

 had to do with probably the largest one ever seen in Europe, 

 viz., Jumno. When he came to the Zoological Gardens he 

 was about four feet high, and weighed 700 lb; at first he was 

 troublesome, but after a very short time became perfectly 

 manageable, and grew very rapidly. This was to be attrib- 

 utcid to his good living, and his constant bath in warm 

 weather; in seventeen years he had grown from four feet to 

 eleven feet in heigh. Dm-iug the last few years of his stay 

 he began to display, during a curtain period of the year, a 

 very troublesome disposition. and terrified every one who came 

 near him. except his keeper, Scott, who had extraordinary 

 control over him. Scott was a very curious man hmiself , and 

 it was with the greatest difficulty he could be induced to 

 allow another man to assist him in the management of the 

 huge aiiimal. But it was fejired that on some occasion, 

 if Scott fell ill, or were injured by the elephant, he would 

 be entirely unmanageable, for no other man dared go near 

 him in his house, though when out at exercise he was perfectly 

 (pilet. At night, however, he used to tear about, and almost 

 shake the house down, and became such a source of trouble 

 that the Councd decided to part with him. He was glad 

 to say that he had recently heard from Mr. Barnum that 

 Jumb ) had increased one ton in weight, and was the father 

 of two little infants, and he believed it was ilr. Barnum's 

 intention to send over hero a female elephant which was e.x- 

 pected to give birth to another descendant of Jumbo's iu 

 November next. 



Admiral Ryder asked if Mr. Sanderson could give any in- 

 formation with regard to the worship of elephants in Siam. 



Mr. Wedderburn Maxwell was very glad to hear that the 

 crued system of taking elephants in pits was condemned, and 

 hoped it would be put an end to throughout India. Having 

 lived in a district adjoining the scene of Mr. Sanderson's 

 oi)erations, he could confirm all he had said, and thanked 

 him for the very graphic and accurate description he had 

 given of the mode of capture. 



Dr. Garson asked if some further information could be 

 given as to the length and weight of the tusks. 



Mr. Martin Wood said Mr. Sanderson had assured them 

 that the number of elephants iu India was not likely to 

 decrease; but they all knew that iu Africa the animal was 

 being mercilessly destroyed, and he shouM Uke to ask if any 

 means could be suggested by which the pitiless warfare 

 against this noble beast could be checked. 



Mr. Christy said this last point was of great importance. 

 He frequently had inquu-ies from Africa whether it was 

 possible to organise a body of retired otficcrs, or others, 

 who would go to Africa and assist tho planters and Europeans 

 there in devising some means of capturing and taming eleph- 

 ants. They had even gone so far as to authorise the 

 purchase of some Indian elephants for the purpose, if necess- 

 ary, but up to the present he had not heard of any practical 

 measures being taken, though the matter had been umch 

 discussed in the Field and other papers. 



Mr. Klenck was sorry to liear that thero was so much 

 sacrifice of himian life in the capturing of elephants. He 

 would also emphasise the remark of a speaker with regard 

 to the cruelty of catching elephants in pitfalls. 



Mr. Andrew Oassels thought most persons present were 

 afraid to expose their ignorance on this subject, by making 

 any remarks in the presence of two such authorities as the 

 Chairman and Mr. Sanderson; but he must say that one of 

 his illusions had been removed that evening, for up to then 

 lie had always looked upon the elephant as a very sagacious 

 animal. 



The Chairman said this was a subject on which ho could 

 talk for a long time, though he certainly conld not claim 

 to be an authority, and knew very little compared to Mr. 

 Sanderson. As he had listened to the graphic description 

 of the elephants rushing through the primeval forests in 

 the sub-Himalayan districts, he could not hel]) his thoughts 

 reverting from tliose regions to the valley of the Thames 

 in the lime long pnst, when the very ground upon wjiicli 

 tln'y were then nu-t was the //«/'//«/ of (ilephants far larger 



than any of those whose dimensions Mr. Sanderson very 

 rightly expressed such doubts aliout. Most people knew that 

 the Thames valley was, at one time, the habitation of prob- 

 ably two species of elephants,whoBe remains were constantly 

 dug up in the marshes. Only so recently as 1846, one of 

 those enormous creatures, the «lej>has primigenius, which was 

 by some supposed to be the ancestor of the modern elephant, 

 was turned up in Siberia, by the action of the water, iu 

 a good statu of preservation. He was 13 ft. in height and 

 1.5 ft. in length, with enormous tvisks, and covered with a 

 long coating of hnir. with a thick mattring of wool under- 

 neath, showing him to be adapted to a cold climate. The 

 African .-ind Indian elephants were the only remaining ex- 

 amples of a great race which ha 1 passed aw.ay, though tho 

 remains of eight or ten different forms were still occasionally 

 found in certain parts of India, showing clearly markeil 

 resemblances to the present type. A question had been 

 asked about the African elephant and its capabilities of 

 domestication, and if .anything could be doiio to stop its 

 whole.sale destruction. It would be very dilHcult to suggest 

 .anything in that direction; but ho miglit say that, some 

 years .ago, the idea did occur to him and others that these 

 animals might be caught and utilised, and lie suggested 

 then that Mr. Sanderson should be asked to go from India 

 with a select number of men tr.ained by him.self iu elephant 

 catching, taking a certain number of elephants with them, 

 and there set up an elephant catching establishment. Had 

 that been done, he felt convinceil that long ere this there 

 would have been a number of useful working elephants iu 

 Africa. The African elephant was just as capable ot being 

 tamed and trained as the Indian, though there were certain 

 differences between them which might be of some practical 

 importance. For instance, he did not know how a mahout 

 could sit on the neck of an African elephant, on account 

 of the immense size of its ears, but there might be other 

 means of eh-iving it. It was quite ascertained, however, 

 that the African elephant was as docile, intelhgent, and as 

 capable ot doing gooil work as the Indian, and thero was 

 no ro.asou why he should not bo utilised in the same way. 

 There was very Uttle doubt that tho elephants mentioned 

 iu the clyssic authors, as being employed in tho Punic 

 and other wars of Hannibal, and those slaughtered in tho 

 amphitheatres at Kome, were of the African species, as was 

 shown by medals and drawings, though these were not 

 alw,ays perhaps perfectly relialjle in details, such as in the 

 size of the ears and shape of the cranium. He hoped the 

 suggestion made, some years ago, by Mr. Sclater and others, 

 as well as by himself, would eventually bear fruit. Certainly 

 such a scheme coidd be placed in no better hands than 

 those of Mr. Sanderson, for there was no one living who 

 knew more about cleph.auts; and, if amission of this kind 

 were entrusted to him, within a few years he felt sure he 

 would produce as good a stud of elephants iu Africa as 

 could be got in India. He did not know that he should 

 agree with him iu all he said, but where he did not, he should 

 defer to his opinion. Ho confessed he put the animal's 

 intelligence somewhat higher than Mr. Sanderson did, but 

 perhaps this was because Mr. Sanderson had seen them 

 more in tho wild state, and might not have seen so much 

 of their after tr.ainiug; but he had certainly seen from time 

 to time instances of iuteliigeuco which went beyond what 

 Mr. Sanderson had described. If the elephant fell short of 

 the intelligence of the dog, it certainly came very near to 

 it, and he could not call the elephant a stupid animal. He 

 should have liked to know something more about the growth 

 of the animal, and when it attained full maturity. He did 

 not think this was yet known and appreciated" in India, 

 and he believed that if the wikWoio, nowin the Zoological 

 (rardens, or his female companion, were presented to an 

 ordinary mahout, he would put their ages considerably bcvond 

 15 or IB, wliich was the undoubted age, because their birth- 

 days were known. He had known thorn for many years, 

 having come over in the same shij) with them in 1876, when 

 they were quite small ; but they were now both over 8 ft., 

 and in India such a sized eleph.ant would generally bo put 

 down as ^0 or 25. 1 le had a certain amount of experience 

 of these animals, from having kept them, known them well, 

 and been known by them. The last elephant heliadw.'is 

 a very good one, staunch, faithful, unintimidated in the 

 presence of tigers or any other wild animal, and was .about 

 30 years old, or possibly a little more, when lie lost her, 

 with other property, at the time of the mutiny. Severn! 



