ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 163 



occasion of Lord Curzon's assumption of the dignity of 

 viceroy :* 



*'How shall I describe the retinue of elephants? I tear 

 my hair, and think, and think, until I feel I must go mad. I 

 see it all so clearly — can I not coin words? Can I not dip 

 my pen in purple and gold? It was almost like looking at 

 the sun. Yellow specks danced in front of one's eyes — one 

 had to turn away into the gray courtyard, and lose an ele- 

 phant or two, to get relief. You could not see the procession 

 in a continuous way as a whole because of the blinding 

 colour. An elephant would pass covered with cloth of gold 

 and ropes of pearls. *This is the finest of all,' you would 

 say; 'colour has gone as far as it can go.' Then suddenly 

 another marvellous combination would spring upon you: a 

 group of elephants in gold, emerald green, and jewels, looking 

 like bubbles ready to burst with brilliance, and making the 

 surrounding colours faded and paler by comparison." 



A recent traveller in India and the contiguous lands has 

 communicated from personal experience some interesting 

 notes on the intelligence and peculiarities of elephants. A 

 striking proof of their thoughtfulness is the fact that they 

 always take every possible precaution to avoid striking the 

 howdah, or saddle, which they bear, against any obstruction, 

 even stopping to remove this when necessary. On one oc- 

 casion mentioned by the traveller, a tree eight inches in diam- 

 eter had fallen across the path against the trees on the 

 opposite side, so as to leave ample room for the elephant 

 itself to pass beneath but not enough for the passage of the 

 howdah. The animal was quickly conscious of this, and 

 checking its advance, thrust the tree out of the way with its 

 trunk so that the howdah could pass without impediment. 

 Similar care was taken in the many narrow pathways which 

 had to be traversed through the jungle. This evinces the 



*Mortimer Menpes, "The Durbar," Loudon, 1903, pp. 46, 47. 



