126 
MAMMALIA. 
Asia. Its strength is about five times that of the Camel. In its | 
wild state, the Indian Elephant is believed to attain to the age of 
two hundred years ; hut it rarely is so long lived in a state of 
captivity. In war they are employed for carrying the sick, and ! 
camp equipage. The English in India harness them in their i; 
artillery trains. Moreover, the proprietors of large cultivated | 
plains, in certain parts of India, have succeeded in making them 
draw ploughs. Never did a more monstrous beast of draught turn S 
up the earth with a ploughshare. A ploughing Elephant does the j 
work of thirty oxen. 
Without the presence of numerous Elephants to grace it, no 
public fete in most parts of India is considered complete. It 
always figures in the suite of princes* and state processions. 
It is especially useful for carrying sportsmen on its back in 
Tiger hunting, and, if need be, for defending them against it, 
when this terrible animal turns to bay. 
Yan Orlich, a naturalist who travelled much, has described the 
singular feeling of surprise he experienced when he rode for 
the first time on the back of an Elephant. A cushion stuffed ! 
with hair is placed on the back of the animal ; over the cushion 
is thrown a long drapery of red cloth embroidered with gold, 
which hangs down on each side of the Elephant ; on this drapery 
is fixed, with girths, a seat made to contain two persons and their 
suite. The guide, or mahout, sits on the neck of the beast, behind 
its ears, and directed its movements with an iron fork, of which 
one of the prongs is bent round. The motion is sometimes plea- 
sant, sometimes fatiguing. At times the pace was so rapid that 
a man on horseback could with difficulty keep up. But this 
pace lasted a very short time, and the animal only did his twenty- 
four miles a day. 
The Asiatic Elephant has been trained for domestic and 
military use for many ages. In the wars which took place i 
between the peoples of Southern Asia, these animals were loaded 
with towers occupied by men armed with arrows, slings, or 
javelins. The first armies which had Elephants in their train 
were everywhere victorious. The sight alone of them equipped 
for war, struck the battalions with terror. The Romans were 
greatly alarmed when, in their campaigns against Pyrrhus, 
they saw for the first time these living machines. They learned, 
