THE ELEPHANT. 



423 



iron to guide it, wkich is sometimes pointed, 

 and at others bent into a hook. With this 

 the animal is spurred forward, when dull or 

 disobedient ; but, in general, a word is suffi- 

 cient to put the gentle creature into motion, 

 especially when it is acquainted with its con- 

 ductor. This acquaintance is often perfectly 

 necessary ; for the elephant frequently takes 

 such an affection to its keeper, that it will 

 obey no other: and it has been known to die 

 for grief, when, in some sudden fit of madness, 

 it has killed its conductor. We are told, that 

 one of these, that was used by the French 

 forces in India for the drawing their cannon, 

 was promised, by the conductor, a reward 

 for having performed some painful service; 

 but being disappointed of its expectations, it 

 slew him in a fury. The conductor's wife, 

 who was a spectator of this shocking scene, 

 could not restrain her madness and despair; 

 but running with her two children in her 

 arms, threw them at the elephant's feet, cry- 

 ing out, that since it had killed her husband, 

 it might kill her and her children also. The 

 elephant, seeing the children at its feet, in- 

 stantly stopped, arid moderating its fury, took 

 up the eldest w ith its trunk, and placing him 

 upon its neck, adopted him for its conductor, 

 and obeyed him ever after with great punc- 

 tuality. 



But it is not for drawing burdens alone, 

 that the elephants are serviceable in war ; 

 they are often brought into the ranks, and 

 compelled to fight in the most dangerous parts 

 of the field of battle. There was a time, in- 

 deed, in India, when they were much more 

 used in war than at present. A century or 

 two ago, a great part of the dependence of 

 the general was upon the number and the 

 expertness of his elephants; but of late, since 

 war has been contented to adopt fatal instead 

 of formidable arts, the elephant is little used, 

 except for drawing cannon, or transporting 

 provisions. The princes of the country are 

 pleased to keep a few for ornament, or for 

 thr> purposes of removing their seraglios : 

 but they are seldom led into a field of battle, 

 where they are unable to withstand the dis- 

 charge of fire-arms, and have often been 

 found to turn upon their employers. Still, 

 however, they are used in war, in the more 

 remote parts of the East; in Siam, in Cochin 



China, in Tonquin, and Pegu. In all these 

 places, they not only serve to swell the pomp 

 of state, being adorned with all the barbarian 

 splendour that those countries can bestow, 

 but they are actually led into the field of bat- 

 tle, armed before with coats of mail, and 

 loaded on the back each with a square tower, 

 containing from five combatants to seven. 

 Upon its neck sits the conductor, who goads 

 the animal into the thickest ranks, and en- 

 courages it to increase the devastation; 

 wherever it goes, nothing can withstand its 

 fury; it levels the ranks with its immense 

 bulk, flings such as oppose it into the air, or 

 crushes them to death under its feet. In the 

 mean time, those who are placed upon its 

 back, combat as from an eminence, and fling 

 down their weapons with double force, their 

 weight being added to their velocity. No- 

 thing, therefore, can be more dreadful, or more 

 irresistible, than such a moving machine, to 

 men unacquainted with the modern arts of 

 war; the elephant thus armed and conduct- 

 ed, raging in the midst of the field of battle, 

 inspires more terror than even those machines 

 that destroy at a distance, and are often most 

 fatal when most unseen. But this method of 

 combating,is rather formidable that effectual; 

 polished nations have ever been victorious 

 over those semi-barbarous troops that have 

 called in the elephant to their assistance, or 

 attempted to gain a victory by merely aston- 

 ishing their opposers. The Romans quickly 

 learned the art of opening their ranks to ad- 

 mit the elephant, and thus separating it from 

 assistance, quickly compelled its conductors 

 to calm the animal's fury, and to submit. It 

 sometimes also happened that the elephant 

 became impatient of control; and, instead of 

 obeying its conductor, turned upon those for- 

 ces it was employed to assist. In either case, 

 there was a great deal of preparation to very 

 little effect, for a single elephant is known to 

 consume as much as forty men in a day. 



At present, therefore, they are chiefly em- 

 ployed in carrying, or drawing burdens, 

 throughout the whole Peninsula of India; 

 and no animal can be more fitted by nature 

 for this employment. The strength of an ele- 

 phant is equal to its bulk, for it can, with 

 great ease, draw a load that six horses could 

 not remove ; it can readily carry upon its 



