ELEPHANT HUNTING, ETC. 195 



gave proof of great courage, and they also held that 

 the recital of their glorious act constituted their best 

 epitaph.* 



A Roman polychrome mosaic of the second century, 

 found some time since in the course of excavations made 

 on the site of the ancient Etruscan city of Veii, depicts the 

 methods employed at that time in embarking elephants. 

 The representation shows a boat, moored near the shore, 

 with which it is connected by a plank bridge. Along this 

 the elephant is being guided. On board the vessel are a 

 master and four men, while four other men on shore assist 

 in the somewhat difficult task of embarkation. The de- 

 tails of the operation are very carefully delineated. The 

 forelegs of the elephant are hobbled so as to prevent it from 

 escaping; to the right foreleg is attached a cord, on which 

 the men on board are pulling, one end having been passed 

 around the mast and secured to two staples in the deck; to 

 the left foreleg is fastened another cord, one end of which is 

 held by the shipmaster and the other end by one of the men 

 on shore; this is used to steady the elephant. A third cord, 

 fastened to the left hindleg, is not anchored, but is firmly 

 held by three of the men on shore, who have braced them- 

 selves to check any too sudden forward movement of the 

 elephant which, hampered as it is, has been left just suffi- 

 cient freedom of motion to permit a slow advance move- 

 ment across the temporary bridge. This very interesting 

 relic, the earliest representation of the kind that we have, 

 belonged originally to Empress Theresa of Brazil, wife of 

 Dom Pedro, and was inherited by her daughter, the Com- 

 tesse d'Eu; it is now in Paris. f 



Of elephant hunting in ancient times we have the state- 



*Claudii ^liani, "Varia historia," xii, 55. 



fR. Cagnat, "La premiere representation connue du mode d'embarquement de I'el^- 

 phant," in L'Ami des Monuments et des Arts, Vol. XIV, Paris, 1900, pp. 67-70. 



