THE ELEPHANT. 



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. Nothing, there- 

 fore, can be more dreadful, or more irresistible, 

 than such a moving machine, to men unacquaint- 

 ed with the modern arts of war : the elephant, 

 thus armed and conducted, raging in the midst 

 of a 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 than 

 effectual : polished nations have ever been vic- 

 torious over those semi-barbarous troops, that 

 have called in the elephant to their assistance, or 

 attempted to gain a victory by merely astonish- 

 ing their opposers. The Romans quickly learn- 

 ed the art of opening their ranks to admit the 

 elephant ; and thus separating it from assistance, 

 quickly compelled its conductors to calm the ani- 

 mal's fury, and to submit. It sometimes also 

 happened that the elephant became impatient of 

 controul ; and, instead of obeying its conductor, 

 turned upon those forces it was employed to as- 

 sist. In either case, there was a great deal of 

 preparation to very little effect : for a single ele- 

 phant is known to consume as much as forty men 

 in a day. 



At present, therefore, they are chiefly employ- 

 ed in carrying or drawing burdens throughout 

 the whole peninsula of India ; and no animal can 

 be more fitted by nature for this employment. 



