8 INTRODUCTION . 



far from a short one, as five or six weeks are required 

 before the animal is tamed, and the different steps of 

 the process are of a kind which, if the animal had a 

 reasoning memory, he would be very unlikely to forget ; 

 but the following anecdote, given by Mr. J. C. Scott, 

 in the " Philosophical Transactions, for 1799," will 

 show what memory the elephant actually has on this 

 most important subject : 



" In June, 1787," says Mr. C. S., " Jattra Mungul, 

 a male elephant, taken the year before, was travelling 

 in company with some other elephants, towards Chitta- 

 gong, laden with a tent and some baggage for our 

 accommodation in the journey. Having come upon a 

 tiger's track, which elephants discover readily by the 

 smell, he took fright, and ran off to the woods, in spite 

 of the efforts of his driver. On entering the wood, the 

 driver saved himself by springing from the elephant, 

 and clinging to a branch of a tree, under which he was 

 passing. When the elephant got rid of his driver, he 

 soon contrived to shake off his load. As soon as he 

 ran away, a trained female was dispatched after him, 

 but could not get up in time to prevent his escape ; 

 she, however, brought back his driver, and the load 

 which he "had thrown off, and we proceeded without 

 any hope of ever seeing him again. Eighteen months 

 after this, when a herd of elephants had been taken, 

 and had remained several days in the enclosure, till 

 they were enticed into the outlet, and tied and led out 

 in the usual manner, one of the drivers viewing a male 

 elephant, declared he resembled the one that had run 

 away. This excited the curiosity of every one to go 



