30 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
guided and instructed by his mahout. This is 
incontestable ; the elephant will do nothing useful 
unless he is- specially ordered to perform a certain 
work or movement. 
While condemning this apathetic character, we 
must admit that in the elephant the power of 
learning is extraordinary, and that it can be 
educated to perform wonders; but such perform¬ 
ances are only wonderful as proving the necessary 
force of direction and guidance by a superior 
power, to which the animal is amenable. 
I have had very many years’ experience with 
elephants, both Asiatic and African, and in my 
opinion they are naturally timid. Although in a 
wild state the males are more or less dangerous, 
especially in Africa, the herd of elephants will 
generally retreat should they even wind an unseen 
enemy. This timidity is increased by domestication, 
and it is difficult to obtain an elephant sufficiently 
staunch to withstand the attack of any wild animal. 
They will generally turn tail, and not only retreat 
gracefully, but will run in a disgraceful panic, to the 
great danger of their riders should the locality be 
forest. 
The difference in species is distinct between the 
Asiatic and the African. It is at all times difficult 
to give the measurement of a dead animal, especially 
when so enormous, as the pressure of weight when 
alive would reduce the height afforded by measure¬ 
ment when the body is horizontal. 
The well-known African elephant Jumbo that 
