Elephants.] 



MUSEUM OP ANIMATED NATURE. 



83 



the din of fireworks and musketry. The outline of 

 the plan is as follows : — The herd when discovered 

 is surrounded by a circle of men, divided into small 

 parties, at the distance of 20 or 30 yards from each 

 other ; these, by noises of various kinds, and by fires 

 lighted at different posts, drive the animals into a 

 body ; in the morning the circle opens, and the 

 herd is slowly driven forward towards a spot where 

 a new circle is prepared to receive it ; the people 

 closing up, taking their proper stations, and passing 

 the remainder of the day and night as before. In 

 this manner, day after day, it is conducted towards 

 a sort of concealed pound or inclosure called a 

 keddah, made of strong timbers, and divided into 

 two or: three great pens communicating with each 

 other by means of gates, which are shut as the 

 herd is forced from pen to pen. The last pen has a 

 narrow outlet passage with a doorway sufficient tor 

 the entrance of only one elephant at a time ; and 

 the passage itself will not allow a large elephant to 

 turn round. When by dint of noise and fires the 

 animals have entered the first gate of the keddah, 

 and they find themselves ensnared, their rage is 

 extreme, but escape is now impossible ; one outlet 

 only offers, but it leads to the next inclosure: the 

 leader enters, the rest follow ; the gate is instantly 

 shut by people who are stationed on a small scaffold 

 immediately above it, and strongly barricaded ; fires 

 are lighted, and the same discordant din made and 

 continued, till the herd has passed through another 

 gateway into the last inclosure, the gate of which is 

 secured in the same manner as the former was. 

 The elephants, being now completely surrounded on 

 all sides, and' perceiving no outlet through which 

 they can escape, appear desperate, and in their 

 fury advance frequently to the ditch, in order to 

 break down the palisades, inflating their trunks, 

 screaming louder and shriller than any trumpet, 

 sometimes grumbling like the hollow murmur of 

 distant thunder ; but wherever they make an attack, 

 they are opposed by lighted fires, and by the noiss 

 and triumphant shouts of the hunters. As they 

 must remain some time in this inclosure, care is 

 always taken to have part of the ditch filled with 

 water, which is supplied by a small stream, either 

 natural, or conducted through an artificial channel 

 from some neighbouring reservoir. The elephants 

 have recourse to this water to quench their thirst 

 after their fatigues, by sucking the water into their 

 trunks, and then squirting it over every part of their 

 bodies. While they remain in this inclosure they 

 continue sulky, and seem to meditate their escape ; 

 but the hunters build huts around them close to the 

 palisades, watchmen are placed, and every precau- 

 tion used to prevent their breaking through. 



When the herd has continued a few days in this 

 partition, the door of the outlet passage is opened, 

 and one is at last enticed in with food. Having 

 entered, the door is closed and securely barred : 

 retreat is impossible, and the captive is hemmed 

 completely in. His struggles in that narrow cage 

 are useless. He is then enveloped in a labyrinth of 

 cords, and exhausted with fatigue and fury, he is 

 led out, between two powerful trained beasts, to 

 whom he is bound and tied, and brought by them 

 to a spot where he is fastened to strong trees (see 

 Fig. 354). He then becomes again excited, and 

 sometimes falls a victim to his paroxysm of fury ; 

 but commonly the cravings of hunger induce him 

 to eat, and he gradually yields to the power of gen- 

 tle discipline. 



It is not an unfrequent occurrence for a domesti- 

 cated elephant to escape to the wild herd, and re- 

 sume its former independence ; and such have been 

 retaken, and submitted immediately to their former 

 riders. Mr. Corse mentions a female which twice 

 escaped, and who each time she was taken obeyed 

 the words of command, attended to her name, came 

 to the side of the keddah when called, ate from the 

 hands of the hunters, and knelt down when ordered. 

 In another case, that of a male, which had escaped 

 about eighteen months, the animal was furious when 

 entrapped in the keddah ; an old hunter, however, 

 recognised him, rode boldly up to him, and ordered 

 him to lie down, pulling him by the ear. The animal 

 seemed quite taken by surprise, and instantly obeyed. 

 Warren Hastings, the governor-general of India, 

 possessed an elephant which had been ten years 

 absent from the rule of man. His keeper being 

 dismissed, he was refractory to all others who at- 

 tempted to control him ; and at length escaped to 

 the wild herd. After the long interval we have 

 mentioned, his old keeper recognised him in a ked- 

 dah, and he instantly submitted himself to him. 

 Mr. Zoffany painted the portrait of this animal, and, 

 in the key to his published print of a tiger-hunt, 

 vouches for the authenticity of this account. Fig. 

 359 is a copy of Mr. Zoffany's print. 



The elephant is not used in the present day in 

 India as an engine of war, but as a beast of bur- 

 den, in the transport of baggage, tents, and various 

 stores; and there are peculiar circumstances in the 

 march of an Indian army which render the elephant 



extremely serviceable. Where dense jungles offer 

 impediments which the pioneers could not obviate 

 without great labour and consequent delay, three 

 or four elephants clear the way at once ; trampling 

 down the long grass and bushes, and breaking 

 down the slender trees ; in short, levelling all before 

 them : again, where the artillery has to be dragged 

 through heavy roads of clay and mire, and deep 

 sloughs, their strength and sagacity are in great re- 

 quisition. They always apply their force in the most 

 efficacious manner, and assist each other with won- 

 derful sagacity. Capt. Williamson thus notices their 

 services in this particular : — " Many of our most, ar- 

 duous military operations have been greatly indebted 

 for their success to the sagacity, patience, and ex- 

 ertion of elephants. Exclusive of their utility in 

 carrying baggage and stores, considerable aid is 

 frequently supplied by the judgment they display, 

 bordering very closely on reason. When cannon 

 require to be extricated from sloughs, the elephant, 

 placing his forehead to the muzzle, which when 

 limbered is the rear of the piece, with an energy 

 scarcely to be conceived, will urge it through a bog 

 from which hundreds of oxen or horses could not 

 drag it : at other times, lapping his trunk round the 

 cannon, he will lift while the cattle and men pull 

 forward. (Fig. 35G.) The native princes attach an 

 elephant to each cannon, to aid its progress in 

 emergencies. For this purpose the animal is fur- 

 nished with a thick leather pad covering the fore- 

 head, to prevent its being injured. It has some- 

 times happened that, in narrow roads or causeways, 

 or on banks, the soil has given way under heavy 

 cannon ; when an elephant, being applied to the 

 falling side, has not only prevented the piece from 

 upsetting, but even aided it forward to a state of 

 security?' Elephants have probably been employed 

 in this manner from the first introduction of artil- 

 lery into Asia. Bernier, describing the army of 

 Aurungzebe, says — " Many of these cannon are so 

 ponderous, that twenty yoke of oxen is necessary 

 to draw them along ; and some, when the road is 

 steep or rugged, require the aid of elephants in ad- 

 dition to the oxen, to push the carriage-wheels with 

 their heads and trunks." Heavy guns are often 

 carried on elephants' backs, both in the native and 

 the Indian armies. 



In dragging cannon up mountain-passes, where 

 the road is steep and rugged, these animals have 

 often performed good service, stimulated by the 

 praises and encouragement of their drivers, which 

 have great effect upon them ; besides, Avhen they 

 have achieved any difficult operation, it is usual to 

 reward them with sweetmeats and arrack, and from 

 all accounts they labour expecting the customary 

 reward. In former times, the elephant, adorned 

 with gorgeous trappings, swelled the royal state of 

 princes and persons of distinction, but in British 

 India it is now rarely seen upon occasions of cere- 

 mony, excepting at the courts of the native princes 

 who still retain some degree of independent autho- 

 rity. In Calcutta their use is prohibited, as horses 

 unused to them often take fright and occasion acci- 

 dents. A line of elephants richly caparisoned is 

 however a noble, spectacle. At Vizier Ali's wed- 

 ding in 1796, there was a grand procession of twelve 

 hundred elephants all magnificently adorned ; of 

 these one hundred in the centre had howdahs, or 

 castles, covered with silver ; and in the midst ap- 

 peared the nabob, mounted on an uncommonly 

 large elephant, within a howdah covered with gold, 

 richly set with precious stones. Some of the ele- 

 phants of Aurungzebe were, according to Bernier, 

 most splendidly attired. Sir T. Rowe thus describes 

 the state elephants of Jehanghir : — " His greatest 

 elephants were brought before him, some of which, 

 being lord elephants, had their chains, bells, and 

 furniture of gold and silver, attended with gilt 

 banners and flags; and eight or ten elephants 

 waiting on him, clothed in gold, silk, and silver. 

 Thus passed about twelve companies, most richly 

 furnished ; the first elephant having all the plates 

 on his head and breast set with rubies and emeralds, 

 being a beast of wonderful stature and beauty. 

 They all bowed down before the king." 



By Europeans in India, the elephant is used for 

 travelling, and in hunting the tiger. The horse 

 cannot be brought to follow the track, or stand 

 firm at the sight of the ferocious beast, but the 

 elephant will do both ; and besides his delicate 

 scent, his bodily powers, which enable him to make 

 his way through the thickest covers, and his great 

 stature, which places the hunters seated in a howdah 

 on his back in comparative safety, are peculiar re- 

 commendations. (See Figs. 360, 361, 362,) After 

 al I, however, the sport is not unattended with danger, 

 for the elephant fears the tiger, and the latter, when 

 wounded or hard pressed, bounds upon the nearest 

 elephant, and mostly tries to seize the creature's 

 trunk ; this it throws up as high as possible, and if 

 a staunch beast, endeavours to receive the foe on its 

 tusks : well-trained elephants have been known to 

 succeed, and, instantly kneeling, transfix the tiger 



and pin him to the ground (Fig. 357) ; but it often 

 happens that the tiger accomplishes his effort, in 

 which case the elephant loses all self-possession, 

 and sets off at full speed, roaring violently, and 

 throwing all into confusion. Sometimes indeed the 

 elephant will not stand the attack, but precipitately 

 retreats in the greatest consternation, in which case, 

 if the tiger springs upon the animal, the hunters are 

 in imminent peril Mr. Williamson (' Oriental Field- 

 sports ') relates an instance in Which, a gentleman 

 went out with others in pursuit of a cunning 

 and daring tiger, and who urged his mohout to 

 make his elephant to beat among the tall grass 

 where the scent was strongest ; this being done, in 

 spite of the tremendous tones of the agitated animal, 

 the tiger found himself compelled either to resist 

 or submit to be trodden upon : he sprang at once 

 upon the elephant's quarter, fixed his fore-paws in 

 the pad on the animal's back, and his hind-claws in 

 the flesh of the thigh. In a paroxysm of fear, oc- 

 casioned hy the suddenness of the attack, and pain, 

 the elephant dashed through the cover, the tiger 

 still clinging, but unable, from the motion of the 

 elephant, to mount higher. It was with difficulty 

 that the gentleman could keep his seat, and he was 

 prevented from firing at the grim beast, both from 

 his unprecedented situation, and from the danger of 

 wounding some of the numerous followers who were 

 exerting the utmost speed of their respective ele- 

 phants to come to his assistance. The pace of the 

 elephant was wavy and irregular, owing to the 

 animal's fear, and fortunately gave opportunity for 

 some of those mounted on light and speedy animals 

 to overtake it, when a gentleman of the party de- 

 spatched it with a shot. 



It is said that the elephant displays great fear 

 towards the rhinoceros: Major Lai ly stated to the 

 author of the ' Oriental Field-sports,' that he once 

 witnessed, from a distant hill, a most desperate en- 

 gagement between a large male elephant and a 

 rhinoceros, in which the elephant was worsted and 

 fled (Fig. 363). Baber, however, in his memoirs 

 observes, that on the occasion of a rhinoceros hunt,, 

 one of the elephants fell right in with the rhino- 

 ceros, upon which the latter immediately ran off in 

 another direction. That an enraged male of each 

 species may meet, and fight, is not perhaps impro- 

 bable ; but we have no good grounds for supposing 

 any animosity to exist between the two species ; 

 certain it is that the male elephant and rhinoceros 

 in adjoining compartments manifest towards each 

 other neither fear nor dislike. 



White elephants, that is, albinos, are occasionally 

 found, and are highly valued. At the court of Ava 

 royalty is incomplete without such an appendage, 

 and both the nobles and people would consider it 

 inauspicious to want a white elephant. In Siam 

 also, as well as in the Birman empire, the white 

 elephant is venerated. Mr. Crawford (' Embassy to 

 the court of Ava'), who saw the celebrated white 

 Birman elephant (Fig. 355), as well as six belonging 

 to the king of Siam, states respecting the former 

 that his establishment is very large. White ele- 

 phants were not unknown to the ancients, and were 

 occasionally exhibited to the admiration of the po- 

 pulace — " Sive elephas albus vulgi converteret ora " 

 (Horace). 



Let us now turn from the Indian to the African 

 species. This animal is found from Senegal and 

 Abyssinia to the confines of the Cape settlement, 

 wherever rivers, lakes, and extensive forests render 

 the region suitable for its residence. In the plains. 

 of the kingdom of Congo, where the herbage attains 

 a wild luxuriance, amidst innumerable lakes, and on 

 the borders of the Senegal, whose waters flow through 

 extensive forests, herds of elephants still wander, 

 and also in the remoter districts of Caffraria. Cuvier 

 appears to have had some suspicion that the ele- 

 phant of Abyssinia and the eastern portions of Africa 

 might possibly be identical with the Indian species, 

 and he adduces the testimony of Ludolphe, who, in 

 his ' History of Abyssinia,' states that the female ele- 

 phants of that country are destitute of tusks : he ac- 

 knowledges indeed that the authority of Ludolphe 

 is doubtful; nevertheless, he adds, his testimony is 

 confirmed by Bruce, at least in one particular case, 

 for, in the account of an elephant-hunt at which he 

 assisted, the tusks of a female were small, whilst the 

 male had them of great magnitude. We cannot. 

 lay much stress on a single case of this kind, and it 

 is to be observed that no mention is made of the 

 size of the ears or shape of the head ; nor can we 

 say whether or not the individual was young or 

 adult. It is not improbable that breeds or races 

 may differ in Africa as they do in India. 



In ancient times the elephant appears to have 

 ranged along the north and north-western shores. 

 " Elephant os fert Africa ultra Syrticas solitudines, 

 et in Mauritania," says Pliny, and /Elian asserts that 

 they dwell in the forests and pasture-lands at the 

 foot of Mount Atlas. Though none are found in 

 those localities in the present day, we give full credit 

 to the assertion, for we know "that the lion once 



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