THE ELEPHANT. 



Labours performed by elephants. 



consider, that all the sacks, bales/ tuns, ^.trans- 

 ported from place to place in India, are carried 

 by elephants ; that they carry burthens, not only 

 on their bodies, but on their necks, their tusks, 

 and even in their mouths, by giving them the 

 end of a rope, which they hold with their teeth ; 

 that, from the banks of the rivers, they put these 

 bales or sacks into boats without wetting them, 

 laying them down gently, and arranging them 

 properly; that, when disposed in the places where 

 their masters direct, they try with their trunks 

 whether the goods are properly stowed; and, if a 

 tun or cask roll, they immediately go in quest of 

 stones to prop, and render it firm. 



M. Phillipe one day went to the river at Goa, 

 near which place a large vessel was building. 

 Here was a spacious area filled with beams for 

 that purpose. Some men tied the ends of heavy 

 beams with a rope, which^was handed to an ele- 

 phant, who carried it to his mouth, and after 

 twisting it round his trunk, drew it, without any 

 conductor, to the place where the ship was build- 

 ing. One of the animals sometimes drew beams 

 so large, that twenty men would have been 

 scarcely able to move them. It was also parti- 

 cularly worthy of remark, that when other beams 

 obstructed the road, the sagacious creature ele- 

 vated the ends of his own beam, that it might 

 run easily over those which lay in his way. 



M. D' Obsonville asserts, that he once saw two 

 elephants employed in beating down a wall, to 



NO. III. K 



