114 THE ART OF TRAINING ANIMALS. 



THE "WAY THAT ELEPHANTS ARE TRAINED. 



It is a very general impression that the training of these 

 huge and powerful animals is a work of great difficulty and 

 tediousness. This is a mistake. Elephants are naturally of a 

 mild and docile nature^ although hunters and travelers, to add 

 l:ister to their own exploits, have represented them otherwise. 

 Even the notorious "rogues"' are not such wholly bad fel- 

 Ijws as has been asserted by some of these writers, and the 

 Mayne Reid style of natural history must be taken with consid- 

 erable allowance. In their wild state it is very seldom that 

 tliey attack any person or animal, unless provoked or assailed, 

 and even when some heroic hunter sneaks up to shoot them un- 

 awares, or from some secure position peppers them with his 

 rifle, the animals usually appear -only anxious to escape from 

 their aggressor.f 



* Most readers are familiar with the term ' ' rogue " as applied to elephants, but proba- 

 bly some are not aware of its exact meaning. A herd of elephants is a family, and not a 

 group collected by accident or attachment. The usual number of individuals ia a herd 

 is from ten to twenty, though the latter number is sometimes exceeded. In tlieir visits to 

 water-courses and migrations, alliances are formed between members of different lierds, 

 thus introducing new blood into the family. If an individual becomes separated from his 

 herd, however, he is not j^erniitted to introduce liimself into aiiother. He may browse in 

 their vicinity, or resort to the same stream to bathe or drink, but farther than this no ac- 

 quaintance is allowe I. An elephant who has lost his herd, and is by this habit of exclu- 

 siveness made an outcast, is a "rogue, "and this ban under Avhica he suffers tends to 

 excite that moroseuess and savageness for which rogues are noted. Another conjecture 

 is, that as ro^^ues are almost ahvaj'S males, the death or capture of particular females ha» 

 led them to leave their herds to seek new alliances. A time elephant escaping from cap- 

 tivity, unable to find his former companions, becomes of necessity a rogue. 



t We could never experience any other feelings than disgiist atthe cruelty, and pity for 

 the animals, at reading tiie sickening details with which, with a slaughter-house gusto, 

 «'>rtain heroes have graced the naratives of their exploits. Gordon Cummings, gives an ac- 

 I! lunt I f his pursuit of a wounded elephant which he had lamed by lodging a ball in its 

 shouider-blade. It limped slowly toward a tree, against which it leaned itself in lielpless 

 agony, whilst its pursuer seated himself in front of it, in safety, to boil his coffeb, and ob- 

 serve its sufferings. The sturyis continued as follows: "Having admired him for a 

 considerable time, I resolved to make experiments on vulnerable points; and approach- 

 jno- very near 1 fired several bullets at different parts of his enormous skull. He only ac- 

 knowledged the shots by a sal lam-like movement of his trunk, with the point of which 

 he gently touched the wounds with a striking and peculiar action. Surprised and shocked 

 at findino- that I wa^ only prolonging the sufferings of the noble beast, which bore it» 

 trials with such dignified composure, I resolved to finish the proceeding with all possible 

 despatch, and accordingly opened fire upon him from the leit side, aiming at the shoulder. 

 I first fired six shots with the two-grooved rifle, which must have eventually ])roved mor- 

 tal. After which I fired six shots at the same pirt with the Dutch six-pounder. Large 

 tears now trickled from Ids eyes, which lie slowly shut and opened, his colossal frame 

 shivered convulsively, and falling on his side, he expired." 



In another place, after detailing the manner io which he assailed a poor animal, he says : 

 "I was loading and firing as fast as could be, sometimes at the head, sometimes behind 

 the shoulder, until my elei)hant's forequarter was a mass of gore; notwithstanding which 

 he continued to hold on, leaving the grass and branches of the forest scarlet in his wake. 

 * * * * * Havingfired thirty-five rounds with my two-grooved rifle, I opened upon 

 him with the Dutch six-pounder, and when forty bullets perforated his hide, he began for 

 ■the first lime to evince signs of a dilapidated constitution." The disgusting description 

 L-i close! thus: "Throughout tiie charge he repeatedly cooled his person with large 

 ! lantities of water, which he ejected from his trunk over his sides and back, and just ag 

 '/'le pai»gs of death came over him, he stood trembling violently beside a thorn tree, and 

 Vgnt pouringf water iuto his bloody mouth until he died, when he pitched heavily forward 



