Chap. II 
of the Eas t Indies. 
are no more than the Signs or Shadows of them ; which 
is juft as reafonable, as if, upon reading Mfof s Fables in 
Greek, which, by the way, is only a Translation of the 
old Perfian Writer Lokman, we ftiould reproach th eGreeks 
with their Folly, in believing that Birds could argue, or 
Beafts hold a Converfation. It was, in all Ages, and is to 
this Day, the Cuftom of the oriental Nations, to wrap up 
all their Wifdom, either in fhort Sentences or Proverbs, or 
in Allegories and Parables ; which if, for want of fuffi- 
cient Information, we cannot perfectly underhand, it does 
not follow, either that thefe People believe thefe Stories 
literally, or that they may not couch under them Truths 
of very great Importance. 
It muft at the fame time be confeffed, that the Monarchs 
of the Indies fometimes carry their Paffion for fup- 
porting and giving Credit to thefe Sort of Fables, to a 
very great Height ; of which we have an Inftance, in re- 
gard to the Animal now under our Confideration ; an 
Elephant, perfectly white, is in itfelf a great Curiofity, and 
\ therefore worthy of being peferved, with peculiar Care, in 
the Stables of Kings ; but this Point is carried much far- 
ther ; and, as the Reader will fee, in fome Voyages that 
: follow, very long and bloody Wars have happened in this 
i Quarter of the World on account of the white Elephant , 
i the Poffeffion of which is efteemed of fo great Conle- 
: quence, that it finds Place amongft, or, otherwife, comes 
. at the End of a Prince’s Titles a . In order to account for 
> this, we are told, by fuch as have inquired very diligently 
i into the Matter, that the high Efteem the Indians have 
for a white Elephant, is grounded on a Fable related of 
Foe, their principal Idol, who is the fame with Chaca , Saca, 
or Xaca, as he is called by thejapponefe, and about whom 
i the Bonzes tell a thoufand impertinent Stories. They fay, 
that he was born eight hundred times, in different Species, 
i before he was bom of a Woman ; and that, when he was 
■ born of her, he iffued through his Mother’s Sides, through 
which he gnawed with his Teeth. The Truth is, Xaca 
was a Sophifter, who perfuaded People of any thing he 
pleafed •, his Mother, being big of him, dreamt, that a 
: white Elephant iffued through her Mouth : Hence it is, 
that white Elephants are held in Veneration in India, China, 
i Fonquin, Siam , and Pegu , where they are ferved in Gold- 
plate ; and Noblemen, of great Diftindtion, vifit them in 
\ great Crouds, and pay to them the fame Honour as to 
Kings b . Yet a Man would be exceedingly miftaken, who 
ftiould from hence conceive, that thefe Stories are really 
; believed by Kings ; the contrary of which is fo true, that 
the Bonzes themielves make no Difficulty of acknowledging, 
to any intelligent Perfon, that talks to them on the Subjed, 
that all thefe are Fables, invented at Pleafure c , ferve only 
| to amufe the common People, and keep them from prying 
into what their Betters do not think it fit for them to 
; underftand. 
7. It is now time to leave the Elephant; with refped 
to which, however, it would be very eafy to affemble twice 
I as many curious Relations : But, before we quit it, it will 
: not be amifs to give the Reader a few Particulars about 
: this wonderful Creature, which may be depended upon, 
and ferve, in many refpeds, to fettle his Opinion with 
regard to the Fads before related. The largeft and fineft 
Elephants in the World are thofe of the Eland of Ceylon ; 
next to them, thofe of the Continent of India ; and, 
iiaftly, the Elephant of Africa. The Moors, who deal in 
‘thefe Creatures, throughout all the Indies , have a fixed 
Price for them, if found and ftrong. They meafure from 
the Nail on one of his fore Feet, to the Top of his 
j Shoulder; and, for every Cubit he is high, they give a 
thoufand Pardoes, which is, in our Money, about 100/. 
! An Elephant of the largeft Size, is nine Cubits, or thirteen 
I Feet and an half high ; fb that the largeft Elephant is worth 
:about 900 /. unlefs he be of the Ceylon Breed, for then he 
will fetch four times that Sum d . 
^The remale Elephant goes fixteen or eighteen Months 
with her "1 oung ; which, when brought forth, is as big as 
4 Journal des Sfavant for July, 1689. P- 4 9S- b Ibid. 
Graaf Voyage aux Indes, pi 27. c /fo age de Borri, cap. A a 
docue, clemens, prudent, memiriagualens, Nat. Hilt. lib. viii. cap. c.‘ 
!#• 35 “ 1 . 
a Calf: They are fifty or fixty Years- old before they cohie 
to their full Strength, or are fit to have Towers upon their 
Backs, or Coaches, fuch as are ufecl in Cochin-China , where 
Elephants carry in fuch Machines twelve Perfons, befides 
him who rules the Elephant, and fits before upon the 
Shoulders, and a Boy, who belongs to him, and fits upon 
the Elephant’s hinder Parts, and who, if the Reader 
pleafes, may be called the Coachman, and Poftiiion c . 
As to the Age of thefe Creatures, nothing can be laid with 
Certainty. If we could depend upon what we are told, by 
Philoftratus , in his Life of .Apollonius Fyaneits, we fhould 
believe, that this great Traveller faw the very Elephant 
upon which Perus rode in the Battle he fought againft 
Alexander the Great, with two Hoops of Gold on his 
Teeth, fignifying, that Alexander , in Efteem of his Fi- 
delity, had confecrated him to the Sun. At this rate, that 
Elephant muft have been above four hundred 'Years of 
Age f . That they live till between two and three, hundred 
Years, is not only affirmed by the belt Authors of Anti- 
quity, but alio by fuch as are beft acquainted with them 
in the Indies ; and that they are in full Vigour at much 
above a hundred, is very certainly known. 
They feed, when wild, upon Grafs, or on the green 
Boughs of Trees; when they cannot get thefe, they will 
eat Roots ; if they can get into Corn-fields, they commit 
terrible Ravages : When tame they will eat almoft any 
thing, but are particularly fond of Sugar-canes, or what- 
ever elfe is fweet ; they will likewife diink Wine or Ale ; 
and it is obferved, that, when they drink Water, they firft 
ftir, and make it thick, with their Feet : The Reafon ge- 
nerally affigned for this is, that they hate to fee their own 
Figure in the Water, which is a mere Fancy ; and the true 
Caufe, that the Gravel and fmall Stones which they fwal- 
low by this Means, may help to digeft their Food ; which 
is likewife pradtifed by Geefe, Ducks, and other Water- 
fowl, but is the more neceffary to the Elephant, becaufe 
this Creature is very much troubled with Indigdtion, and 
the Colic. 
The famous Sir Thomas Brown cenfures the Antients, 
for fuppofing that the Elephant flept (landing ; and yet the 
Fadl is really fo ; and, which is .more extraordinary, they 
Brake their Heads continually while they fleep. Sir Thomas 
was, however, thus far right, that this does not proceed 
from their being unable to lie down, becaufe in Places 
where they are wild, the Print of them is frequently feen 
upon the Grafs. In all Parts of India, but in China efpe- 
cially , they make ufe of almoft every Part of this Animal 
in Medicine. The Broth, made of its Flefh, is excellent for 
a Loofenefs ; and the Flefh burned, becomes a Specific for 
the Flux oi Urine. The Gall is very good for the Eyes ; 
and the Humour of the Elephant’s Eye, mixed with 
Breaft-milk, is alfo held a moll excellent Ophthalmic. 
They likewife ufe the Gall to take away an offenfive 
Breath. A Powder, made of the Affies of the Skin, 
burnt, and mixed with Oil, is an excellent Balfam for 
green Wounds ; and the Bone, at the Pit of the Stomach, 
powdered, is a noble Stomachic. I fhall Ipeak, in another 
Place, of the Ufe and Value of the Elephants Teeth ; but 
it may not be amifs to obferve here, that, in the Indies 
they reckon three Sorts of Ivory ; the beft, that which is 
taken out of the Mouth of the Beaft, immediately after it 
is killed ; the fecond Sort, when the Teeth are taken out 
of the Head of an Elephant that has died a natural Death ; 
and the third or worft Sort, what is found in the Woods* 
where the Elephants have fhed or loft their Teeth. The 
Pace of an Elephant is equal in Speed to that of a Horfe on 
full Hot, and they will travel at this Rate fome Flours. The 
moft cautious of our modern Travellers juftify to the full 
what Pliny Mays of this Creature, and what Cicero had 
laid before him h , that no Animal feems to approach, by 
its Aftions, fo near to the Reafon of Man, as this. 
8. The Rhinoceros, next to the Elephant, has been always 
efteemed the moft extraordinary Animal in the Indies, both 
with refpeft to Size, and to Shape. This Creature is*com- 
f Bojfepv'm. Biblioth. feleS. Tom. i. lib. x. cap. 2. d y e 
^ Phi loft rat. lib. h. cap. 21. £ Animalium omnium maximum , 
Elephant 0 oelluarum nulla prudent ior« Deoxum Natura, lib. i® • 
man 
