BACK TO AFRICA. 149 



The elephant, when once domesticated, no longer thinks 

 of the jungles where he grew up, nor does he have mo- 

 ments of fury when all his savage nature returns to him. 

 If left unconfined lie does not spring upon his keeper, 

 slay him, and escape to the wilderness, like most wild 

 beasts ; for man attracts him, and he becomes his faithful 

 friend and the sharer of his labors. I have seen him in 

 Ceylon ; on the long roads, deep in dust, of Hindostan ; 

 in the market-places of Benares ; in the jungles of Bur- 

 mah and Indo-China ; in the vast wildernesses of Southern 

 Africa ; and everywhere I have found him better than the 

 men who use him, asking only, in return for his strength 

 and his kind willingness, a little affection and good treat- 

 ment. There is only one thing to be afraid of in him, 

 and that is a madness very like that to which the human 

 brain is subject. In this rare case he knows neither him- 

 self nor others, and, as one can do nothing with him forci- 

 bly, it is often necessary to shoot him. Sometimes this 

 madness displays itself in an intense depression of spirits, 

 when the elephant retires to some corner of his quarters, 

 and refuses all food imtil he dies — as the natives say — 

 of a broken heart. 



This remarkable animal remembers, understands, rea- 

 sons, associates ideas, and even accomplishes two of the 

 mental processes — comparison and judgment — which 

 are at the root of intelligence ; so that, whether in point 

 of animal or of intellectual strength, the lion makes little 

 show before such an adversary. Indeed, his courage is 



