144 BEASTS AND MEN 
patience and intelligence may not be tamed to some degree. 
Even alligators have been broken in and exhibited. Various 
kinds of seals have been used for performing with great suc- 
cess; and they are undoubtedly well adapted to the circus. 
Who has not marvelled at the way in which they can balance 
any kind of object on the tip of their snout, or toss up balls 
and catch them again with mathematical accuracy as they 
fall? A quarter of a century ago the American, Woodward, 
performed real wonders in the way of training seals. Just 
as in well-trained troupes a genuine friendship exists between 
the trainer and his animals, so it often happens that a close 
friendship grows up between the animals themselves. When 
this happens the trainer will do well to take full advantage of 
it by working the animals together. As long as these friend- 
ships are between animals of allied species they seem natural 
enough. I remember an instance of a crowned crane and an 
ostrich from West Africa which had become inseparable while 
still in the enclosure and before training began. On another 
occasion a similar friendship was formed between a crane and 
a goose. But when the animals are of totally different species 
the alliance between them is more remarkable. Thus I re- 
member a case in which an elephant contracted a friendship 
with a pony. So indispensable to the great monster did the 
society of this pony become, that he became melancholy and 
refused his food when he was separated from his little comrade. 
The first mixed troupe which my father established con- 
sisted of a great Bengal tiger, an Indian panther and a fox- 
terrier. These three creatures were knit together in a firm 
bond of friendship. The fox-terrier gnawed the same bone 
as the tiger, and the latter never thought of injuring his little 
friend. It is, as I have said, more impressive when the 
animals which work together are in their natural environment 
grim enemies. Nothing but the fundamental principle of 
kindness and studying the animals’ habits can crown these 
efforts with success. Take, for instance, the case of a lion and 
a horse which are to be taught to perform together. First 
