ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL l5l 



Celtic spoils."* We may conjecture that the animal picked 

 out the letters with its trunk, and many of us have seen 

 trained horses, etc., perform similar tricks under expert 

 guidance. 



Writing about a century later than Pliny, iElian also notes 

 the performance of an educated elephant which could write 

 out letters on a tablet with its trunk. He admits, however, 

 that the hand of the trainer was so placed as to be able to guide 

 the trunk, but the animal seemed to be intent on its task, 

 and appeared to understand perfectly what it was doing. In 

 another performance a troupe of elephants, with trappings of 

 different colours, first executed a series of dances to the sound 

 of musical instruments, and then took their places in proper 

 order at immense tables, proceeding to eat and drink in 

 imitation of a group of banqueters.! 



The Italian traveller, Ludovico di Barthema, of Bologna, 

 who journeyed through the East at the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, described the offensive and defensive 

 armour of an Indian war elephant. The head and trunk 

 were protected by a covering of mail, and as a weapon of 

 defence, a long sword, having a blade as broad as a man's 

 hand, was firmly attached to the trunk. The animal carried 

 seven men, each armed with bow, lance, sword, and shield. 

 According to this writer's report, the female elephant was 

 both stronger and fiercer than the male of the species. The 

 price paid for one of these animals varied from land to land, 

 in some places it was only fifty ducats, while in others it 

 attained the sum of one thousand or even two thousand 

 ducats. I 



The Mogul emperors of the sixteenth and seventeenth 



*Plinii, "Historia Naturalis," Lib. VIII, Cap. III;Harduin notes that the Greek words 

 would form a perfect metrical line. 



fAeliani, "Natm-a animaliimi," Lib. II, Cap. XL 



J"Itinerario de Lodovico Varthema," ed. by Alfredo Bacchi della Lega, Bologna, 1885, 

 pp. 118-121; first edition, Rome, 1510. 



