42 ZOOLOGY or india. 



It appears, however, that these journeys are not always 

 unattended by danger, for Bernier was hunself an eyewit- 

 ness of the following catastrophe : — " The king (Aureng- 

 2ebe) was ascending the Peer-Punchal mountains, from 

 ■which a distant view of the kingdom of Cashmere is first 

 obtained. He was followed by a long line of elephants, 

 upon which sat the ladies in mik-dembers and amaris (seats 

 vpith canopies). The foremost, appalled, as is supposed, 

 by the great length and acclivity of the path before him, 

 stepped back upon the elephant that was moving in his 

 track ; who again pushed against the third elephant, the 

 third against the fourth, and so on until fifteen of them, in- 

 capable of turning round or extricating themselves in a 

 road so steep and narrow, fell down the precipice. Happily 

 for the women, the place where they fell was of no great 

 height ; only three or four were killed ; but there were no 

 means of saving any of the elephants. Whenever these 

 animals fall under the immense burden usually placed upon 

 their backs, they never rise again, even on a good road. 

 Two days afterward we passed that way, and I observed 

 that some of the poor elephants still moved their trunks."* 



In regard to the pecuniary value of the elephant, Mr. 

 Forbes informs us that a common price is from 5000 to 6000 

 rupees, but that he has seen one valued at 20,000. The Hin- 

 doos become much attached to these animals when they 

 have been long in their service, and a wealthy owner will 

 not part with one of extraordinary qualifications for any 

 consideration. A well disciplined war-elephant will stand 

 a volley of musketry. " I have seen one," says the last- 

 named author, " with upwards of thirty bullets in the 

 fleshy parts of his body, and perfectly recovered from his 

 wounds."! 



Though much remains untold of the habits and history 

 of this ponderous creature, we must now proceed to other 

 subjects, having already devoted more space to the preced- 

 ing notices than we can well afford.^ 



* Bernier's Travels, vol. ii. p. 149. 



t Ttie difficulty of destroying elephants by firearms may be con- 

 ceived on perusal of an anecdote in Captain Beaver's " African Memo- 

 randa." See also tlie painful narrative in the third volume of Mr. Grif- 

 lith's edition of the Animal Kingdom. 



i We beg to refer the reader to the Library of Entertaining Know- 



