ELEPHANT. 129 



use in deciding the contests of men; for being terri- 

 fied by the explosion of artillery, they are soon 

 thrown into confusion, and, becoming ungovernable, 



.often trample down tho.se ranks which they were 

 brought into the field to defend. They are now 

 chiefly kept for the purposes of labour, or of magnifi- 

 cent parade. They are likewise made use of in the 

 East as the executioners of criminals, a business which 

 they perform with singular dexterity, breaking, at 

 the word of command, the limbs of the condemned 

 jvretch with their trunks, or trampling him under their 

 feet, and:prplonging his sufferings <,r accelerating his. 

 death according to the directions of their keepers. 



In Siam, Pegu, Toriqiiin, and .Cochin China, ele- 

 phants are still esteemed a valuable auxiliary in war, 

 as well as an essential appendage to despotic magnifi- 

 cence and ostentatious parade; and the princes of 

 those countries arc attended on their tours by some 

 hundreds of these enormous animals, for the .purpose 



of conveying the ladies of the-seraglio, as w.ellas the 

 immense quantities of baggage which those eastern 

 sovereigns always carry along with them. 



The manner of taking and taming animals, of so 

 prodigious a strength as might seem to set ail. human- 



-power ai defiance, , is so curious, that it merits a few 



. moments of your attention. 



In the midst of some forest abounding with cle- 



. phants, a. large piece of ground is nnrkcd ou , and 



.surrounded with strong pallisii-'U-s, it, '. ,\ .vcn with 

 large branches of trees: one end of this inclo.snre is 

 Harrow, from which it opens gradually, *: us to tnke 

 in a considerable exteat .of country. On thisoc-ta^ien 

 some thousands of men are employed, who'-'placo 

 themselves in such a. manner as. to prevent the wii.i 

 elephants from making their escape. They then L?.,- 



i die large fires,, qf which the;;e animals ifro Oxfc^fi- 

 ingiy afraid, and make, at the same time, a dreadful 

 noise with drums and other discordant instruments?, to 

 increase theivV terror. . Another party, cons; ,ti';. > >f 



:h ousiunis, with the aid of lame. fVinaie el 

 truia-J for the purpose, drive the wild ones slo^ 



