THE TAMING OF THE WILD 277 



mahout, from whose uplifted finger huge 

 elephants cringe in terror, is an abject little 

 figure of a man, and the undersized Todas 

 quell their fierce buffaloes with a glance, though 

 Europeans dare not go near them for fear of 

 being trampled. I have seen little children in 

 Syria, along the valley of the Jordan, tyran- 

 nising over their bad-tempered buffaloes and 

 making no greater account of them than if they 

 were sheep ; and those who know the Eskimos 

 of the Arctic Circle tell us that the savage 

 sledge-dogs allow themselves to be cuffed and 

 kicked by the fearless children in a manner 

 that they would never tolerate from a European 

 hand. 



The negro, then, is a failure in this respect. 

 He can destroy, but he cannot subdue. The 

 Arab, on the other hand, who has invaded 

 Africa from his home in the East, is a master 

 of the art. With him he brought the camel. 

 Had he been established in the land sooner, he 

 might even have saved the African elephant, 

 though it is doubtful whether anything short 

 of the arts of the Hindu would have availed. 

 The destruction of the wild elephant of Africa 

 and the employment of the tame elephant of 

 India show the difference not indeed between 

 the elephants, but between the negro and 

 Hindu. The black groom may coerce, but 

 it takes the mahout to cajole. It is perhaps 



