ELEPHANTS 



write to me informing me of the death of any of their 

 large animals, most of which I purchased. I also received 

 all, or nearly all, the animals that died in the Regent's Park 

 and in the Surrey Zoological Gardens. I thus became 

 acquainted with the proprietors of travelling menageries, 

 and at the same time I obtained a knowledge of all the 

 elephants in travelling menageries in England and many 

 on the continent, as well as those in the Zoological Gardens 

 in various parts of Europe. 



My fondness for elephants led me to study them and 

 pay particular attention to their habits and treatment in 

 captivitj^ I found that the males when approaching 

 maturity, or when about twenty years of age, required very 

 careful management, for about this period, if well fed and 

 in good condition, they become restless and somewhat 

 uncertain in temper, and in many instances extremely 

 dangerous to be approached. This condition generally 

 would last four or five weeks, and is well known to elephant- 

 keepers by the term " must." I heard of the deaths of 

 many persons who had been killed from time to time by 

 elephants while in this state. 



The first elephant that ever came immediately under 

 my charge was the celebrated " Jumbo." 



The African elephant " Jumbo '' was received in exchange 

 for other animals on June 26, 1865. 



At that date he was about 4 ft. high and he was in a filthy 

 and miserable condition. I handed him over to Matthew 

 Scott, who I thought was the most likely man to attend 

 to my instructions because he had no previous experience 

 in the treatment and management of elephants. The first 

 thing was to endeavour to remove the accumulated filth 

 and dirt from his skin. This was a task requiring a con- 

 siderable amount of labour and patience, and was not to be 

 done in the space of a moment. The poor beast's feet for 



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