170 Anecdotal Natural History. 



experiments have been tried on the animal, and a 

 bull-dog has endured the severest tortures without 

 flinching. Pain he would not have feared, but he 

 did fear the loss of my love for him. 



Not but that force may not be sometimes 

 necessary with any elephant. However gentle an 

 elephant may be, it is liable to occasional aberrations 

 of temper, which affect it much as a half-grown cat 

 is often affected with fits. The animal loses all control 

 over itself, and for a time is subject to raging mad- 

 ness. 



Now, even a cat can do much harm during a fit, 

 and what a terrible creature a mad elephant must 

 be can be well imagined. 



The elephant keepers of India, when they per- 

 ceive symptoms of coining madness, fasten the 

 animal to a tree just as if it had been newly taken. 

 They put it on very low diet, and if it should be very 

 outrageous, they employ their largest and strongest 

 male elephants to assist in coercing it. These 

 animals understand the necessity of restraining their 

 companion, and if other means fail, will beat him 

 with their trunks when he tries to break his bonds. 



Only a short time before these lines were written, 

 a remarkable instance of madness in an elephant 

 occurred in Siam. 



In that country an albino, or, as it is generally 

 called, a White Elephant, is held to be, not a mere 

 animal, but a material habitation of Divinity, and is 

 honoured accordingly, even the king paying homage 

 to it. The White Elephant is addressed as "Sublime 

 Grandeur." He has his court and household officers 

 like the king. He is lodged in a palace, and is 

 decorated with jewels of priceless value. The 

 " Order of the White Elephant " is in Siam what the 

 Garter is in England, or the Golden Fleece in Spain. 



