THE ELEPHANT IN CAPTIVITY. 1 37 



tree lies across the path, and I have often watched with 

 astonishment the wonderful sagacity and intelligence of the 

 animal when such a thing as this occurs. The elephant, the 

 instant the beam touches the obstacle, does not put a particle 

 of pressure on, but calmly steps back, lifts the end on to the 

 fallen tree with his trunk, and then pulls it gently over. 1 

 Besides dragging the beams to the stack yard the elephants 

 also pile them one over the other with the utmost regularity ; 

 no man could do it better. When the logs have been 

 brought to the stack where they are to be piled, the drag 

 rope has to be untied, and it is necessary that a man should 

 accompany the elephant for this purpose, but I had a clever 

 little elephant who untied the drag rope herself, and thus 

 saved the wages of one man the whole time I was in the 

 forest. 



An elephant is generally guided and kept in order by a 

 Mahout or keeper, armed with an iron hook and spike which 

 acts as both rein and spear ; but in the very damp climate of 

 the Annamullies, the slight scratches and punctures made by 



1 The Author evidently does not share the views of Sanderson and 

 others as to the intelligence of this animal. Sanderson in his work 

 (Thirteen years amongst the wild beasts of India) says : " The opinion 

 is generally held by those who have the best opportunity of observing 

 the elephant, that the popular estimate of its intelligence is a greatly 

 exaggerated one, that instead of being the exceptionally wise animal it 

 is believed to be, its sagacity is of a very mediocre description." San- 

 derson thinks a Newfoundland dog is a much more intelligent creature 

 than an elephant. Blandford takes the same view; he says, "I quite 

 agree with Sanderson in believing that the intelligence of elephants has 

 been greatly overrated ; they are singularly docile and obedient ; no 

 other animal is known to be capable of domestication when adult to 

 nearly the same extent, and docility in animals is generally, I think, 

 confounded with intelligence." — Ed. 



