28 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



tation that the animal was past cure, but he preferred 

 giving it the chance of life. With wounds and sores in all 

 parts of its body, its tail seemed in the worst and most 

 hopeless condition, what with flies, heat, and neglect. A 

 swift, sharp stroke best did the work there, and a curative 

 process was started. By dint of poulticing, cleanliness, 

 and taking down to the river to bathe and plaster itself 

 with the healing mud — for elephants know very well how 

 to doctor themselves with river mud and herbage if allowed 

 the opportunity — he was gradually brought round. We 

 petitioned for our patient to be permanently transferred 

 to our establishment ; and so he was, becoming in our hands 

 a different creature, fairly strong, and useful for light work, 

 such as fetching fodder of boughs and leaves for other 

 elephants who were equal to a harder strain ; he was so very 

 docile, too, that I liked to keep him for my own riding. 

 Suffering in the past had not spoiled that poor animal's 

 temper ; quite the opposite, for I should think a gentler 

 beast was never known. A very comfortable seat was 

 arranged for me on his back, to which eminence I climbed 

 easily, helped by the cleverly accommodating hind foot 

 held out for me to stand upon, the elephant kneeling the 

 while. 



One of F.'s most beneficial reforms was the harness he 

 planned, and caused to be used, so as to utilise the full 

 strength of the working elephant without all the pull being 

 so disastrously on the teeth. The Indian Government 

 acknowledged this, and it became (in theory) the standing 

 method in all the districts under its jurisdiction ; but 

 natives are too conservative for such innovations to be 

 easily brought into use, even when to their own advantage, 

 keeping in old ruts for no better reason than that their fore- 

 fathers went in them. 



Not a word too much could ever be said for the intelli- 

 gence and common-sense of elephants. To some folks all 



