DOMESTICATED MAMMALS AND THEIR USES 241 



almost perfect Indian Army Corps/ Since this was written 

 much information has been gained as to the dreaded tsetse-fiy, 

 but apparently there is extremely little chance of horses being 

 made immune, i.e. so treated by inoculation or otherwise that 

 they will be able to survive if once infected by the peculiar 

 minute organism so intimately associated with the all too fatal 

 disease. Further, owing to the destruction of cattle by the 

 rinderpest, the transport difficulties have been increased in 

 Africa, while the frontier wars have increased the demand for 

 mules in India. On the other hand, it has been proved that it 

 is a comparatively simple matter to cross various breeds of 

 mares with a Burchell zebra, and if experts are to be trusted, 

 the hybrids (zebra-mules, as some call them) promise to be as 

 useful and hardy as they are shapely and attractive. The pre- 

 liminary difficulties having been overcome, it remains for those 

 in authority to ascertain of what special use, if any, zebra hybrids 

 may be in various parts of the Empire, but more especially in 

 Africa and India." Prof. Ewart, in a recent letter (March, 1904), 

 has kindly supplied me with further information. " Some of the 

 hybrids are constantly being driven in Hamburg. Eight of 

 those I bred are going to the St. Louis Exposition. Apparently 

 a hybrid withstands the tsetse poison better than a zebra which 

 has not been reared in the * fly ' country. Some of the hybrids 

 out of Iceland (inbred) ponies are extremely tractable, and can 

 be used for carrying children." 



THE ELEPHANT. Although both African and Indian Ele- 

 phants can be tamed, it is only the latter species that has been 

 of very great service to man as a domesticated animal. Its con- 

 siderable intelligence and enormous strength make it useful as 

 a beast of burden and for lifting heavy weights (fig. 1 1 76). For 

 such purposes, and also in war, it has been employed in the 

 East from very remote times. But its nervous temperament and 

 uncertain temper constitute serious drawbacks, especially in the 

 case of the males. Some of the characteristics of this animal 

 are thus described by Sir Samuel Baker (in Wild Beasts and 

 their Ways): " Although I may be an exception in the non- 

 admiration of the elephant's sagacity to the degree in which it 

 is usually accepted, there is no one who more admires or is so 

 foolishly fond of elephants. . . . There is, however, a peculiar 

 contradiction in the character of elephants that tends to increase 



VOL. IV. 110 



