DOCILITY OF ANIMALS. 255 



are gentle creatures, and never exert their strength, or employ 

 their weapons, but in defending themselves or protecting their 

 companions. Even when deprived of the instruction of men, 

 they possess the sagacity of the beaver, the address of the 

 ape, and the acuteness of the dog. To these mental talents 

 are added the advantages of amazing bodily strength, and the 

 experience and knowledge he acquires by living at least two 

 centuries. With his trunk he tears up trees. By a push of 

 his body he makes a breach in a wall. To this prodigious 

 strength he adds courage, prudence, and coolness of deport- 

 ment. As he never makes an attack but when he receives an 

 injury, he is universally beloved ; and all animals respect, be- 

 cause none have any reason to fear him. In all ages, men 

 have entertained a veneration for this most magnificent and 

 sagacious of terrestrial creatures. The ancients regarded 

 him as a miracle of nature, and he is, in reality, one of her 

 greatest efforts. But they have greatly exaggerated his fac- 

 ulties. Without hesitation, they have ascribed to him high 

 intellectual powers and moral virtues. Pliny, ^Elian, Plu- 

 tarch, and other authors of a more modern date, have be- 

 stowed on elephants not only rational manners, but an innate 

 religion, a kind of daily adoration of the sun and moon, the 

 use of ablution before worship, a spirit of divination, piety 

 toward Heaven and their fellow creatures, whom they assist 

 at the approach of death, and, after their decease, bedew them 

 with tears, and cover their bodies with earth. 



When tamed and instructed by man, the elephant is soon 

 rendered the mildest and most obedient of all domestic ani- 

 mals. He loves his keeper, caresses him, and anticipates his 

 commands. He learns to comprehend signs, and even to un- 

 derstand the expression of sounds. He distinguishes the 

 tones of command, of anger, and of approbation, and regulates 

 his actions by his perceptions. The voice of his master he 

 never mistakes. His orders are executed with alacrity, but 

 without any degree of precipitation. His movements are al- 

 ways measured and sedate, and his character seems to cor- 

 respond with the gravity of his mass. To accommodate those 

 who mount him, he readily learns to bend his knees. With 

 his trunk he salutes his friends, uses it for raising burdens, 

 and assists in loading himself. He loves to be clothed, and 

 seems to be proud of gaudy trappings. In the southern 

 ^regions, he is employed in drawing wagons, ploughs, and 

 chariots. "I was eye-witness," says P. Philippe, " to the fol- 

 lowing facts. At Goa, there are always some elephants era- 



