134 



DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



a singular denotative value. An acquaintance of mine, a 

 British officer who had served long in India, told me that in 

 taking artillery over very difficult roads, certain of the abler 

 elephants could be trusted to walk behind each piece, where 



An Indian Elephant 



they would in a fashion control its movements,* steady ing or 

 lifting it as the occasion demanded without any directions 

 from the driver. 



Elephants can be trained to pile up sticks of timber, such 

 as railway ties, placing the layers alternately in opposite 

 directions, as is the custom in such work. There is an excel- 

 lent and well-attested story of an elephant who, without a 

 driver, was bearing a stick of timber through a narrow wood 



