THE ELEPHANTS. 



401 



coming through the trunk; when enraged it utters 

 an uninterrupted, deep, rumbling, guttural sound; 

 an attack is accompanied by harsh trumpet-tones, 

 the "trumpet" sounds in reality amounting only to 

 a loud squeal of rage. 



Elephants of a Every herd of Elephants is a large 

 Clannish D/s- family, and vice versa, every family 

 position. forms a separate herd. The num- 

 ber of members constituting it may vary a great 

 deal; for a herd may grow from ten, fifteen or 

 twenty members to a band containing hundreds. 

 Some travelers have told of four, five or even eight 

 hundred Elephants, congregated together. Von 

 Heuglin affirms that he met a troup, which he esti- 

 mates to have numbered at least five hundred, and 

 Sir John Kirk states that he once found eight hun- 

 dred Elephants together on the Zambesi. They cer- 

 tainly band together to such an extent very rarely, 

 and one may suppose that under such circum- 

 stances several herds have come together, meeting 

 by chance while on an extended migration and keep- 

 ing together for a short time only. 



Though each distinct herd forms one family, 

 strange Elephants, such as young bulls or females 

 that have escaped from captivity, seem to be ad- 

 mitted into it generally without difficult}', though 

 there may be exceptions. At any rate it would be 

 assuming too much to suppose that the so-called 

 "solitary' Elephants are expelled members which 

 can nowhere find admittance to tribal relations. 

 Sanderson flatly contradicts such a statement. In 

 his opinion the majority of such animals, which 

 oftener happen to be young bulls than old ones, 

 are solitary only in appearance, temporarily keeping 

 aloof from the herd of their own accord, and follow- 

 ing the movements of the whole troup. A really 

 solitary Elephant, one that no longer consorts with 

 its own kind, is seldom met with and even then is 

 not necessarily a ferocious fellow or "rogue," as it is 

 technically called. On the other hand it frequently 

 develops into an incorrigible plunderer of planta- 

 tions, not to be easily scared away by the employ- 

 ment of usual means. It is true, that some of these 

 solitary individuals become dangerous to human be- 

 ings who chance to disturb or surprise them, sud- 

 denly and unexpectedly charging at a man, in their 

 first movement of terror, so to speak, like so many 

 other strong animals. 



The Intellect The intellectual capacities of the Ele- 

 oftheEle- phant have been greatly overrated, 

 phant. especially by those who have based 



their conclusions on observations made of it when a 

 pupil of Man and not in its natural condition. Most 

 of the stories of the sagacity and reasoning power of 

 tame Elephants, that one hears so often, are pretty 

 inventions, and are not founded on incidents ob- 

 served in life. Such is the story of the tailor who 

 administered a prick with his needle to an Elephant 

 instead of the accustomed sweetmeat; the animal 

 went to the river, and on its return, in revenge 

 squirted a quantity of muddy water on the tailor and 

 his work; or the story of the animal which lifted the 

 wheel of a cannon over a fallen soldier, to save him 

 from being crushed, and so on. An Elephant in the 

 wild state undoubtedly exhibits far more of simplic- 

 ity than sagacity, and the trained animal, which 

 apparently sometimes acts on its own ideas, does in 

 reality only what its trainer suggests. Sanderson 

 says: "Let us see whether the wild Elephant exhibits 

 more intelligence than any other animal. Though 

 its trunk is furnished with an appendage which 



could protect it very efficiently from a clumsily made 

 pit fall, covered with a tew poles and branches, it 

 usually falls easily into the trap. Its companions 

 run away in terror, though they could readily extri- 

 cate it by treading down the earth at the edges of the 

 pit. If the animal that has fallen in is young, the 

 mother stays near until the hunters arrive, but she 

 has no thought of helping her offspring; she does 

 not even bethink herself of breaking off branches 

 and throwing them to it, to appease its hunger; but 

 stories which ascribe such natural stupidity to the 

 Elephant find far less of credence than those which 

 falsely affirm that the mother assists her young in 

 every way, throws it grass to feed on, fetches water 

 in her trunk for it to drink, or fills the pit with 

 sticks and branches to aid her infant to escape. 

 Further evidence of stupidity is furnished in the fact 

 that entire herds of Elephants are driven into en- 

 closures surrounded by indifferent fences, into which 

 no other wild animal could be driven, and some are 

 caught by having their legs tied by small parties of 

 Men who creep up together with a few tame Ele- 

 phants. Escaped Elephants are recaptured in this 

 way with little trouble; even experience does not 

 teach them wisdom. Such facts surely do not har- 

 monize with the assertion that Elephants are uncom- 

 monly intelligent animals, and still less, that they 

 are capable of judicious deliberation. I do not be- 

 lieve that I wrong the Elephant by saying that in 

 many respects it is a stupid creature; and I can, 

 without hesitation, affirm that many of the remark- 

 able stories told of its exhibitions of wisdom are 

 only fables, in the main crediting the animal with 

 too high a grade of intelligence, unless, indeed, they 

 refer to tricks of strength or docility, which it ac- 

 complishes under the guidance of its trainer. 

 Elephants are of " Let what has already been said suf- 



Amiable Dis- fice as to the intelligence of the Ele- 

 position. phant. Let us pass to the considera- 

 tion of its display of emotion in captivity. I think 

 that everybody who has had to deal with Elephants, 

 will agree with me, when I say that hardly enough 

 commendation can be given to their good qualities, 

 while bad traits are to be observed in only excep- 

 tional cases. The best qualities of the Elephant are 

 obedience, gentleness and patience. In these re- 

 spects it is surpassed by no other domestic animal, 

 even under the most trying circumstances. When it 

 has to wait in the glare of the sun or has to endure 

 painful surgical operations, it seldom exhibits any 

 irritation. It never refuses to do anything, when 

 properly guided, unless it is afraid. Elephants, no 

 matter whether they be wild or tame, are exceed- 

 ingly timorous, and their fear is easily aroused by 

 objects with which they are unfamiliar. Neverthe- 

 less many of them indicate dispositions naturally 

 courageous, which only need skillful development 

 to render them invincible; this is proven by the be- 

 havior of many Elephants on a Tiger-hunt." 

 Caution and Tim- Timidity is exhibited by wild Ele- 



idityof Ele- phants in all their actions and habits; 

 phants. whether they are in search of food; 

 whether they go to the natural licks to procure salt, 

 of which they are very fond, or to their drinking 

 pools or bathing places, they always proceed with 

 the utmost caution; but once assured of their safety 

 they seem to extract from life the greatest comfort. 

 They break branches off the trees, as if only bent on 

 pleasure, fan themselves with them, drive away an- 

 noying Flies and then leisurely proceed to eat the 

 twigs, after having previously prepared them by 



