102 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
A. captured elephant after he has been taught his ordinary duty, 
say about three months after he is taken, is taught to pick up 
things from the ground and give them to his mahout sitting ou 
his shoulders. Now for the first few months it is dangerous to 
require him to pick up anything but soft articles, such as 
clothes, because the things are often handed up with consider- 
able force. After a time, longer with some elephants than 
others, they appear to take in a knowledge of the nature of the 
things they are required to lift, and the bundle of clothes will 
be thrown up sharply as before, but heavy things, such as a 
crowbar or piece of iron chain, will be handed up in a gentle 
manner ; a sharp knife will be picked up by its handle and 
placed on the elephant’s head, so that the mahout can also take 
it by the handle. I have purposely given elephants things to 
lift which they could never have seen before, and they were all 
handled in such a manner as to convince me that they recog- 
nised such qualities as hardness, sharpness, and weight. You 
are quite at liberty to make any use of these remarks you please 
if they are of service. 
Again, as Dr. Lindley Kemp observes, 1 4 the manner 
in which tame elephants assist in capturing wild ones 
affords us an instance of reasoning in an animal,’ &c. ; and 
similarly, Mr. Darwin observes : 6 It is, I think, im- 
possible to read the account given by Sir E. Tennent 
of the behaviour of the female elephants used as de- 
coys, without admitting that they intentionally practise 
deceit.’ 2 
The following is an extract from the more interesting 
of the observations to which Mr. Darwin here alludes, and 
I think it is impossible to read them without assenting to 
his judgment. Several herds of wild elephants having 
been driven into a corral, two tame decoys were ridden 
into it : — 
One was of prodigious age, having been in the service of the 
Dutch and English Governments in succession for upwards of 
a century. The other, called by her keeper ‘ Siribeddi,’ was 
about fifty years old, and distinguished for gentleness and doci- 
lity. She was a most accomplished decoy, and evinced the 
utmost relish for the sport. Having entered the corral noise- 
lessly, carrying a mahout on her shoulders with the headman of 
1 Indications of Instinct , p. 1 29. 
2 Descent of Man, p G9. 
