ELEPHANT. 



555 



Elephant, shrill piercing cry, which he imagined he felt pierce to 

 S *""Y"" 1 *' die very marrow 'of his bones, and which occasioned his 

 horse also, to make several hasty leaps, and then gallop 

 off twice as fast as before. In the mean time, the hunts- 

 man had sufficient presence of mind to ride his horse 

 up an ascent, well knowing that elephants, and such like 

 heavy animals, are slow and unwieldy in going up a 

 hill in proportion to their weight, and the contrary in de- 

 scending a hill. He, by this means, not only more cer- 

 tainly distanced his antagonist, but his companion had 

 the more time to advance on one side of the elephant, 

 where he imagined he could most easily direct his shot 

 at the heart and the larger arteries connected with the 

 lungs of the animal. This shot did not, however, hit 

 in any dangerous part, as the horse was rather unruly 

 and pulled at the bridle, which the man had hanging over 

 his right arm, at the instant that hehad jumped off his horse 

 anddischargedhispiece, in thesame manner as theformer. 

 The elephant now turned upon this last antagonist, but 

 was soon wearied of pursuing him, as the sportsman 

 had an opportunity of riding away from him up a still 

 steeper hill than his companion. The two hunters 

 found that it would answer their purpose better to hold 

 each others horses, so that they should not get off, while 

 each of the sportsmen fired their pieces by turns. The 

 elephant, even after the third ball, still threatened ven- 

 geance, but the fourth entirely cooled his courage : he 

 did not, however, absolutely drop till he had received 

 the eighth. None of the balls, of course, lud taken effect 

 in the directly vital parts. 



In former times, when the elephant could be employ- 

 ed in battle, a sort of castle was erected on his back, 

 from which missile weapons were thrown ; and his 

 sides were armed with sharp-edged instruments, to en- 

 able him to force his way through the opposing ranks. 

 But since the invention of gunpowder, this animal has 

 become useless in battle. The fire and the smoke ter- 

 rify him. But he is still of great utility in transporting 

 baggage of all sorts, and, as a bead of burden, exceeds 

 all others in strength and intelligence. Were it not for 

 the great quantity of food necessary to his subsistence, 

 he would be found a very valuable addition to our western 

 colonies, where land carriage is difficult and expensive. 

 Snscs. With regard to the senses of the elephant, he clearly 



appears to possess, in great perfection, all the five ge- 

 nerally enumerated. His eye is quick, and he sees at a 

 considerable distance. His large ears, which he can 

 move backwards and forwards at pleasure, give an ad- 

 ditional acuteness to his organs of hearing. Although 

 his skin seems hard, yet insects often annoy him ; and 

 the termination of his trunk possesses a delicacy of touch 

 equal to that which belongs to the tips of the human 

 fingers. The sense of smell is probably the most acute 

 of all the other senses of the elephant. When hunting 

 him, the sportsman must be careful to keep on the lee 

 tide, otherwise the elephant would soon discover his 

 enemy, and make him suffer for his rashness. Thus 

 Span-man relates the adventure of one Dirk Marcus, 

 who nearly suffered in the chase. " Once (says this 

 adventurer) in my younger days, when from a hill co- 

 vered with bushes near a wood, I was endeavouring to 

 steal upon an elephant to the leeward of me, on a sud- 

 den, I heard from the lee-side a frightful cry or noise ; 

 and although at that time I was one of the boldest ele- 

 phant hunters in the whole country, I must confess 

 that I was in a terrible quaking, insomuch that I be- 

 lieve the hairs on my head stood quite erect. At the 

 same time, it appeared tome as though I had had seve- 



ral pails of water thrown over me ; without my being able ^Elephant. 

 to stir from the spot, before I saw this huge creature so ^^"Y""^ 

 near me that he was almost on the point of laying hold of 

 me with his trunk. At that instant, I fortunately had 

 the presence of mind to take to my legs, and to my no 

 small astonishment, found myself so swift, that I thought 

 I hardly touched the ground. The beast, however, 

 was in the mean time pretty close to my heels, but 

 having at last got to the wood, and crept away from 

 him under the trees, the elephant could not easily follow 

 me. With respect to the place I was in at first, I am 

 certain that the animal could not see me, and conse- 

 quently that he first found me out by the scent." 



In examining the intellectual qualities of the ele- Intelligence, 

 phant, much caution is requisite in the admission of 

 evidence, as there appears to be a strong desire to as- 

 cribe to this animal powers of mind, proportional to his 

 physical strength. Thus he has been praised for un- 

 common modesty, in opposition to historical evidence, 

 and without the testimony of a single fact. His lof- 

 ty independence has been extolled, although he is, un- 

 questionably, the most tameable and the most servile 

 brute in the creation ; and, in the Hindoo mythology, 

 he is made the representative of the God of Wisdom. 

 The vulgar are ever accustomed to attribute stupidity 

 to animals which have long snouts, as cranes and wood- 

 cocks ; but when some circumstances tend to elevate 

 the facial line, without augmenting the capacity of 

 the cranium, we fancy we see, in animals of that de- 

 scription, a peculiar air of intelligence This last cir- 

 cumstance happens in the case of the elephant, where 

 the frontal sinuses swell the cranium to such a degree, 

 that they elevate the facial angle much beyond what 

 the proportion of the brain would require. While the 

 brain in man forms T ' T d part of his whole body, in the 

 elephant it only forms T ' -th part. 



It has l>een stated, that the sagacity of the elephant Memery. 

 is so great, and his memory so retentive, that, when 

 once he has received an injury, or been in bondage, and 

 afterwards escapes, it is not possible, by any art, to en- 

 trap him. The following fact, to which MrC. Scott was 

 an eye witness, will shew how unfounded such specu- 

 lations are, in which some pseudo-naturalists have in- 

 dulged : 



" In June 1787," (says Mr C. Scott), " Jattra Mun 

 gul, a male elephant taken the year before, was tra- 

 velling in company with some other elephants, towards 

 Chittigong, laden with a tent and some baggage, for 

 our accommodation in the journey. Having come up- 

 on a tiger's track, which elephants discover readily by 

 the smell, he took fright, and ran off to the woods, in 

 spite of the efforts of his driver. On entering the wood, 

 the driver saved himself by springing from the ele 

 phant and clinging to the branch of a tree, under which 

 he was passing. W r hen the elephant got rid of his 

 driver, he soon contrived to shake off his load. As soon 

 as he ran away, a trained female was dispatched after 

 him, but could not get up in time to prevent his escape; 

 she, however, brought back his driver, and the load he 

 had thrown off, and we proceeded without any hope of 

 ever seeing him again. Eighteen months after this, 

 when a herd of elephants had been taken, and had 

 remained several days in the inclosure, till they were 

 enticed into the outlet, then tied and led out in the 

 usual manner, one of the drivers, viewing a male ele. 

 phant very attentively, declared he resembled the one 

 which had run away. This excited the curiosity of 

 every one to go and look at him ; but when any per* 



