378 



THE ELEPHANT. 



rp.vRT yiii. 



CHAP. VI. 



CONDUCT IX CAPTIVITY. 



The idea prevailed in ancient times, and obtains even at 

 tlie present day, that the Indian elephant snrpasses that 

 of Africa in sagacity and tractabihty, and consequently in 

 capacity for training, so as to render its services available 

 to man. There does not appear to me to be sufficient 

 ground for this conclusion. 



It originated, in aU probabihty, in the first impression 

 created by the accounts of the elephant brought back 

 by the Greeks after the Indian expedition of Alexander, 

 and above aU, by the descriptions of Aristotle, whose 

 knowledge of the animal was derived exclusively fi'om 

 the East. A long interval elapsed before the elephant 

 of Africa, and its capabihties, became known in Em^ope. 

 The first elephants brought to Greece by Antipater, were 

 from India, as were also those introduced by Pyrrhus 

 into Italy. Taught by this example, the Carthaginians 

 undertook to employ Afiican elephants in war. Jugmtha 

 led them against Metellus, and Juba against Caesar ; but 

 from inexperienced and deficient training, they proved 

 less effective than the elephants of India \ and the liis- 



^ AuMANDi, Hist. MiHt. cles Ele- 

 2)hants, liv. i. ch. i. p. 2. It is 

 an extraordinan' fact, noticed by 

 Abmandi, that the elephants figured 

 on the coins of Alexander, and the 

 Seleucidae invariably exhibit the 

 characteristics of the Indian type, 

 whilst those on Ilonian medals can 

 at once be pronounced African, from 

 the peculiarities of the convex fore- 



head and expansive ears. — lliid. liv. 

 i. c. i. p. 3. 



