THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 229 



The elephant is the most patient and obedient of all animals, 

 and by far the most intelligent. He has more ability to reason 

 from cause to effect than most other animals of docile temperament, 

 and he is, beyond all question, the most capable of being taught and 

 the most willing to obey after he has been taught. To me it is a 

 matter of suri^rise that Mr. Sanderson, who has, I presume, more 

 personal knowledge of the animal both tame and wild than any 

 European Hving, should place so low an estimate upon his mind. 

 He declares that " its sagacity is of a very mediocre description," 

 and also that " its reasoning faculties are far below those of the dog, 

 and possibly other animals." 



From this view, which I think is due to the fact that " familiar- 

 ity breeds contempt," I differ very widely. My acquaintance with 

 tame elephants has created in my mind a respect for their intellect- 

 ual qualities which I never could have acquired in any other way. 

 A trained dog or horse is such a rarity, even among the thousands 

 of their species, that it is considered a proper object to exhibit at 

 a ch'cus. A horse which will promptly back at the word of com- 

 mand, or a dog which will bark or stand on its hind legs when told 

 to do so, is considered quite accomplished ; but in India, any well- 

 trained elephant, at a word or touch from his driver, who sits astride 

 his neck, will "hand up," "kneel," "speak" (trumpet), "salaam" 

 (salute with his trunk), stop, back, lie down, pull down an obstruct- 

 ing branch, gather fodder and "hand up" to his attendant, tm^n 

 or lift a log, or drag it by taking its drag-rope between its teeth. 

 He will also protect his attendants or attack a common enemy with 

 fury. I think I am safe in asserting that there are in India to-day, 

 scores of captive elephants who are capable of jjerforming all the 

 services enumerated above. But of covu'se there are many which 

 are not so inteUigent. 



Contrast this with the performances of our most inteUigent 

 breed of dogs, the pointer. Even when taken young and trained 

 under the most favorable circumstances, they are at best capable of 

 being taught only a few things, as to " go on," to " charge," to go 

 in a given direction, and retrieve. The extreme difficulty of 

 teaching a dog anything after he has passed his puppy-hood is so 

 universally acknowledged as to have given rise to the famihar prov- 

 erb, "It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." What a strong 

 contrast is seen in the wild "koomeriah" elephant, caught when he 

 was about sixty years old (by Mr. Sanderson), who "was easily man- 

 aged a few days after his capture. " Of all animals in the world 



