THE ELEPHANT. 
231 
Captain Williamson has more fully described 
the nature of the services rendered by the ele- 
phants attached to our Indian army. “ Many 
of our most arduous military operations,” says 
He, have been greatly indebted for their suc- 
cess to the sagacity, patience, and exertions 
of elephants. Exclusively of their utility in 
Carrying baggage and stores, considerable aid 
is frequently supplied by the judgment they 
<iisplay, bordering very closely on reason. 
M^hen 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 hog, from 
t'^hich hundreds of horses and oxen could not 
^rag it : at other times, lapping his trunk 
tound the cannon, he will lift while the cattle 
and men pull forward. The native princes 
attach an elephant to each cannon to help it 
forward in emergencies. For this purpose 
