340 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



have been caught young and tamed and trained. They have 

 been used since the earliest times in war, in state processions, 

 and for all kinds of labor. The elephant is an exceedingly 

 clever and tractable work animal and his great strength makes 

 him a very valuable source of power in lumbering and heavy 

 freight operations. 



The African elephant formerly existed in immense numbers 

 but is now much reduced, largely for the reason that both 

 males and females possess tusks and are killed for their ivory. 

 In the Belgian Congo an elephant training station has been 

 established at Api. The African elephant appears to be as 

 easy to train as the Asiatic species. In domestication the Af- 

 rican elephant stands about 7^2 feet at the withers at the age 

 of 15 years. No trouble has been experienced in the Congo 

 in training them and they have proved eminently satisfactory 

 for all kinds of work. In the Congo, elephants have been 

 extensively used for carrying bunches of fruit of the oil palm 

 to oil mills and for miscellaneous work. The exportation of 

 ivory from the Ivory Coast, Sudan, Senegal, Guinea, and else- 

 where is still of considerable proportions. Statistics on the 

 number of elephants used for economic purposes are ex- 

 tremely fragmentary, but in Siam there are reported to be 

 more than 3,000 elephants in domestication. 



POULTRY 



The jungle fowl, the wild ancestor of our chickens, occurs 

 abundantly throughout India, Burma, Malaya, Indo-China, 

 Java, the Philippine Islands, and neighboring tropical coun- 

 tries. Some or all of the various kinds of domestic poultry are 

 raised in all tropical countries and most of the different kinds 

 of poultry thrive fairly well in tropical climates. 



In Hawaii, no unusual difficulties have been met with in 

 raising chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowls, pea fowls, 

 and pigeons. All of these kinds of poultry may and do escape 



