ELEPHANT. 



403 



part of what it proportionally is in man. In as 

 tar as the analogy of nature is concerned, what has 

 been now stated appears to be conclusive against any 

 high degree of sagacity in the elephant, even as com- 

 pared with other animals. It is certainly inferior to 

 the dog, and probably also to the pig, an animal 

 which we are not in the habit of rating very high in 

 the scale of intelligence. But the pig may be taught 

 as many tricks as the elephant, though it wants some 

 of the mechanical apparatus for the performance of 

 them ; and a pig has been trained to stand and point 

 at game, which no elephant ever did, even under the 

 i in mediate guidance of its mahaut, with the conducting 

 iron stuck in the top of its head. 



Whence, then, could have arisen the very general be- 

 lief in the sagacity of the elephant ; and why have the 

 Hindus given it a place in their temples as the god, 

 or, at all events, the emblem, of wisdom ? The second 

 of these questions, probably, involves in it the answer 

 to the first. The Hindus are not very particular in 

 the choice of their gods ; and a people who can 

 believe that there is certain salvation in the posses- 

 sion, or the mere vicinity, of a fossil shell (the Sal- 

 gram stone, which is simply a Cornu Ammonis], or 

 that cow dung is the most sacred of all substances, 

 cannot be expected to be very skilful or accurate in 

 their choice of the god or any emblem of wisdom. 

 Among the ignorant, what is considered as a w ise 

 look (though proverbially a sign of folly among the 

 better informed) is generally held to be the certain 

 indication of absolute wisdom. An owl is among the 

 most stupid of birds, which, taken altogether, are a 

 stupid race as compared with the mammalia ; and yet 

 the owl was the symbol of wisdom among the most 

 polished, and, on some points, the most philosophical 

 people of ancient times. We have not made these 

 few remarks with any view to the disparagement of 

 the elephant, but only to correct the vulgar prejudice 

 respecting it, and to elevate it to its true and proper 

 place in the animal kingdom, by doing what we can 

 to reduce the accounts of them within the bounds of 

 sober truth and real usefulness. 



When noticing the principal haunts of elephants 

 in the wild state, we omitted to mention, that though 

 they are found in places which have always too 

 much moisture to prevent their being burnt up, and 

 are seldom far from the water, and very often swim- 

 ming and bathing in it with apparent pleasure ; yet 

 they always prefer the clear waters, which have 

 their banks comparatively firm. They sometimes 

 spout muddy water over their bodies with their 

 trunks ; but 'they do not wallow in the mud, or walk 

 upon the surfaces of deep and sludgy quagmires. 

 Their weight and the form of their feet are both ill 

 adapted for such places, and they would sink into 

 them beyond the power of extrication. Neither are 

 their feet suited to rough and stony paths, nor even 

 to those which are very much indurated, as the soles 

 of them are apt to get bruised, and thus the feet of 

 an elephant are the first parts that fail on a long 

 march. Elephants also move but slowly up a hill, 

 evidently on account of their great weight, and 

 although the same weight accelerates their motion 

 down hill, they are very much shaken and jaded by 

 resisting the downward impulse. Their place of 

 best, or at all events of longest continued motion, is 

 upon level ground. 



Such is a summary of the greater part of what is 

 known of the elephant, in a state of nature ; and it 



relates wholly, or chiefly, to the Asiatic species, for 

 the African one is hardly known, except as a hunted 

 animal, for his tusks, his flesh, or both an elephant 

 being a feast of many days to the inhabitants of an 

 African village. 



But from the length of time that the elephant has 

 been pressed into the service of man, for purposes of 

 ostentation, or for labour, makes him interesting as 

 connected with human history. Our notice of him 

 in this way must be very brief, but it would be in- 

 complete if we did not prepare it by a short account 

 of the manner in which elephants are captured. 

 This we shall take in substance, but in a very abridged 

 form, from the account given by Mr. Corse Scott, 

 and first published in the Asiatic Researches. We 

 shall do this because it is the production of a man of 

 practice, as well as intelligence, drawn up from his 

 own experience as a regular elephant catcher, at a 

 time when these animals were in much demand in 

 India. 



We may observe, that tne country from the Ganges 

 and Brahmapootra eastward to the Mug mountains, 

 and from Chittagong, on the bay of Bengal, north- 

 ward to the mountains of Assam, is remarkable for 

 the humidity of its climate, and the luxuriance of its 

 vegetation, both in forest trees and in shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants. It lies in the line of both mon- 

 soons : and thus its dry season is very short, as 

 compared with that of India generally. Some of the 

 lower parts are swampy and unhealthy ; but a con- 

 siderable extent consists of gentle slopes of firm 

 ground, covered by rich forests and under growth, 

 and in every respect a chosen country for elephants. 



In this country the herd of elephants is taken whole- 

 sale, by being driven into a series of inclosures 

 called keddah. This in general consists of three in- 

 closures, formed of very strong stockades on the 

 outside of deep ditches ; the third, or innermost 

 inclosure, being usually the strongest of the three. 

 It requires to be elephant proof, because, when the 

 animals get as far as it, they are generally in a state 

 of great excitement. 



Previous to the hunt, some of the most intelligent 

 of the natives, who are conversant with the woods, 

 and experienced in discovering the elephants without 

 alarming them, are sent out to find the herd, and to 

 note particularly the direction in which it is ranging; 

 for as elephants clear the pasture before them, almost 

 as completely as reapers, they range on a course for 

 the distance of many miles. When they are dis- 

 covered, the keddah is constructed at a considerable 

 distance in front of them, but in the line of their 

 advance ; and all things being thus ready they pro- 

 ceed to the capture, which is a matter requiring great 

 skill and attention, and by no means unattended 

 with danger. When a herd is discovered, about 

 three hundred people are employed to surround it, 

 who divide themselves into small parties, consisting 

 generally of three men, each at the distance of about 

 twenty or thirty yards from the other, and form an 

 irregular circle, in which the elephants are inclosed ; 

 each party lights a fire, and clears a foot-path to the 

 station that is next him, by which a regular commu- 

 nication is soon formed through the whole circum- 

 ference from one to the other. By this path rein- 

 forcements can immediately be brought to any place 

 where an alarm is given : and it is also necessary for 

 the superintendents, who are always going round, to 

 see that the people are alert upon their posts. The 

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