232 THE ELEPHANT. 
the animal is furnished with a thick leather 
pad, covering the forehead, to prevent its 
being injured. It has sometimes happened 
that, in narrow roads or causeways, or on 
banks, the soil has given way under heavy 
cannon ; when an elephant, being applied on 
the failing side, has not only prevented the 
piece from upsetting, but even aided it for- 
ward to a state of security.” 
But in no military operations are the per- 
severance and caution of the elephant more 
strikingly displayed than when he is required 
to convey guns up the ghauts or steep 
passes, which are such formidable obstruction^ 
in the mountainous districts of India. ^ 
highly interesting scene of this kind is de- 
scribed by Lieut. Shipp, in his Memoirs ; hut 
his account is too long for quotation. 
D’Obsonville relates that, during one of the 
wars in India, an elephant, having received n 
flesh wound from a cannon-ball, after having 
