THE ELEPHANT. 363 



The strength of an elephant 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 back three or four thousand weight; 

 upon its tusks alone it can support near a thou- 

 sand* Its force may also be estimated from the 

 velocity of its motion, compared to the mass of 

 its body. It can go, in its ordinary pace, as fast 

 as a horse at an easy trot ; and, when pushed, it 

 can move as swiftly as a horse at full gallop. It 

 can travel with ease fifty or sixty miles a-day, 

 and when hard pressed, almost double that dis- 

 tance. It may be heard trotting on at a great 

 distance : it is easy also to follow it by the track, 

 which is deeply impressed on the ground, and 

 from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter. 



In India they are also put to other very disa- 

 greeable offices ; for in some courts of the more 

 barbarous princes, they are used as executioners ; 

 and this horrid task they perform with great dex- 

 terity : with their trunks they are seen to break 

 every limb of the criminal at the word of com- 

 mand ; they sometimes trample him to death, and 

 sometimes impale him on their enormous tusks, 

 as directed. In this the elephant is rather the 

 servant of a cruel master, than a voluntary tyrant, 

 since no other animal of the forest is so naturally 

 benevolent and gentle : equally mindful of bene- 

 fits as sensible of neglect, he contracts a friend- 

 ship for his keeper, and obeys him even beyond 

 his capacity. 



In India, where they were at one time employ- 

 ed in launching ships, a particular elephant was 



VOL. III. Z 



