ELEPHANTS 81 
heard of it, except those relating to feats of strength 
or docility performed under its trainer’s or keeper’s 
direction, are beyond its intellectual power and are 
but pleasant fiction. 
It often happens that persons who do not under~ 
stand elephants give them credit for performing 
actions which are suggested to them, and in which 
they are directed by their trainer or by the mahout 
on their necks. I think that all who have had to deal 
with elephants, will agree in saying that their good 
qualities cannot be exaggerated and that their vices 
are few, and only occur in exceptional animals. The 
not uncommon idea that elephants are treacherous 
and retentive of injury, is a groundless one. 
Elephants do not push with their foreheads or 
the region above their eyes, but with the base of the 
trunk or snout, about one foot below the eyes. 
Elephants are poor sighted, and are so intent on 
being off when thoroughly started, that I have been 
almost brushed against without being discovered. 
The rapidly advancing line of huge heads and 
cocked ears bobbing up and down as the elephants 
come rushing on, leveling everything before them, 
is a trying sight, and at first one requires some 
nerve—and the reflection they are escaping, not 
charging—to stand still. 
If circumstances ever occur to make a run un- 
avoidable, the pursued hunter should always take 
down hill and choose the steepest place at hand, as 
the elephants fear to trust themselves on a rapid 
