150 
ELEPHANT. 
an eminence, and fling down their weapons with 
double force, their weight being added to their 
velocity. Nothing, therefore, can be more dread- 
ful, or more irresistible, than such a moving ma- 
chine, to men unacquainted with the Vnode rn arts 
of war ; the elephant, thus armed and conducted, 
raging in the midst of the held of battle, inspires 
more terror than even those machines that destroy 
at a distance, and are often most fatal, when most 
unseen. But this method of combating is rather 
formidable than effectual ; polished nations have 
ever been victorious over these semi-barbarous 
troops, that have called in the elephant to their 
assistance, or attempt to gain a victory by merely 
astonishing their opposers. The Romans quickly- 
learned the art of opening their ranks to admit 
the elephant, and thus separating it from assis ; 
tance, quickly compelled its conductors to calm 
the animal’s fury, and to submit. It sfnnetimes 
also happened that the elephant became impatient 
of control ; and instead of obeying its conductor, 
turned upon those forces it was employed to assist. 
In either case, there was a great deal of preparation 
to very little effect, for. a single elephant is known 
■to consume as much as forty men in a day. 
At present, therefore, they are chiefly employed 
in carrying, or drawing burdens, throughout the 
whole peninsula of India; and no animal can be 
more fitted by nature for this employment. The 
strength of an elephant is equal to its bulk, for jt 
can, with great ease, draw a Load that six horses 
could not remove; it , can readily carry upon its 
back three or four thousand weight ,* upon its 
tusks alone it can support, near a thousand : its 
force may also be estimated from the velocity of its 
motion, compared to the mass of its body. It can 
go, in its ordinary pace, as fast as a horse at an 
easy trot ; and, when pushed, it can move 
