Elephants m War. 153 



and Ta VERNIER in particular is supposed to have stated 

 that if a Ceylon elephant be introduced amongst those 

 bred in any other place, by an instinct of nature they 

 do him homage by laying their trunks to the gi'ound, 

 and raising them reverentially. This passage has been 

 so repeatedly quoted in works on Ceylon that it has 

 passed into an aphorism, and is always adduced as a 

 testimony to the surpassing intelligence of the elephants 

 of that island ; although a reference to the original shows 

 that Tavernier's observations are not only fanciful in 

 themselves, but are restricted to the supposed excellence 

 of the Ceylon animal in war.^ This estimate of the 

 superiority of the elephant of Ceylon, if it ever prevailed 

 in India, was not current there at a very early period ; 

 for in the Ramayana^ which is probably the oldest epic 

 in the world, the stud of Dasartha, the king of Ayodhya, 

 was supplied with elephants from the Himalaya and 

 the Vindhya Mountains.^ I have had no opportunity 

 of testing by personal observation the justice of the 

 assumption ; but from all that I have heard of the ele- 



' The expression of Tavernier is des que las elephants en voient un de 



to the effect, that as compared with all Ceylan, par un instinct de nature, ils 



others, the elephants of Ceylon are lui font la reverence, portant le bout 



"plus courageux a la guerre." The de leur trompe a la terre et la relevant, 



rest of the passage is a curiosity : — II est vrai que les elephants que les 



"II faut remarquer ici une chose grands seigneurs entretiennent, quand 



qu'on aura peut-etre de la peine a on les amene devant eux, pour voir s'ils 



croire mais qui est toutefois tres- sont en bon point, font trois fois une 



veritable : c'est que lorsque quelque espece de reverence avec leur trompe, 



roi ou quelque seigneur a quelqu'un ce que fai vu soiiveut ; mais ils sont 



de ces elephants de Ceylan, et qu'on styles a cela, et leurs maitres le leur 



en amene quelque autre des lieux ou enseignent de bonne heure." — Les Six 



les marchands vont les prendre, comme Voyages de J. B. Tavernier, lib. iii. 



d'Achen, de Siam, d'Arakan, de Pegu, ch. 20. 



duroyaumedeBoutan,d'Assam, dester- '' Rama y ana, sec. vi. ; Carey and 



res de Cochin et de la cote du Melinde, Marshman, i. 105 ; Fauche, i. t. p. 56. 



