TEACHING TO "SPEAK." 121 



are frequently the most easily tamed, as they are less apprehensive than 

 younger ones. 



The elephant should not be taught to kneel, nor be subjected to other 

 unnecessary restraints, until well over the immediate effects of capture, say 

 in four or five months. It may then be taken into the water, and the down- 

 ward pressure of a pointed stick behind the shoulder near the spine will soon 

 make it kneel to avoid the pain. 



Elephants are taught to trumpet by the extremity of their trunks being 

 tightly grasped between the hands, when they are obliged to breathe through 

 the mouth, in doing which they make a loud sonorous sound. They are 

 rewarded and made much of for this, and so learn to " speak," as it is 

 termed, on an indication of what is required. In Dacca the Government 

 elephants are particularly well trained, much more so than in the south of 

 India. They are taught to collect their own fodder where it is plentiful, 

 and to hand it up to the coolie on their backs, who packs it, — and many 

 other useful services. 



