70 
VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
cold, you should in the first place, when on the march, select a 
dry sheltered spot, whenever practicable, for picketing'your animal. 
Next you would, if possible, take care that the ground has a 
slope. This is desirable for many reasons, but principally for the 
facility it affords to the animal, when lying down, of rising, by his 
feet being lower than his head. Left to himself, he would in¬ 
stinctively take this position; but the reverse sometimes happens, 
and, when his head is down hill, he cannot rise without assistance, 
or through a great deal of violent exertion, by which he becomes 
soon not only exhausted, but may seriously injure himself. 
This is a matter very often overlooked by a careless keeper, and 
in the morning you find, perhaps, three or four of the elephants 
still on the ground, while the others are all up. You very soon 
discover the reason of this when you go up to them. You find 
them moving their trunks restlessly; their eyes are bloodshot, and 
flanks heaving. The breathing is hard, and distressfully panting, 
and the animal evidently prostrate from continuous struggling. 
No time is now to be lost. 
If you have other animals, bring one, two, or even three of 
them round to one side with their drivers, to push at the prostrate 
elephant's side, and assist him as much as possible to regain his 
legs. Or if, as is sometimes the case, he is too exhausted to help 
himself, draw him over on his other side, and let him lie still, or 
be kept in that position for a short time. Raise his head and 
shoulders from off the ground, and administer a quart of rum or 
arrack in a little rice gruel (conjee), and repeat the dose if neces¬ 
sary. Worry him as little as possible, as this in itself is weaken¬ 
ing and only does harm; and when you have decided that he 
is rested sufficiently and ready to get up, assist him gently at 
first, and if he responds and makes an attempt, give him all the 
assistance possible and literally shove him up on his legs. 
I have dwelt on this part rather longer than may seem ne¬ 
cessary, but I wish to make it particularly understood that this 
lying down is a sign of great prostration and danger. 
The elephant, like the camel, is a very chicken-hearted animal 
in sickness, and, when once down, will, like the camel, scarcely 
exert himself to rise again; but, if once got up on his legs, he 
will remain so, until, if haply, he becomes convalescent. 
If it were an abstract question of stubbornness, however, I 
must give the palm to the camel, for I have seen them lying about 
on the beach (where they had landed from the boats), at low water, 
sulky and vicious, refusing to rise whether under kind or harsh 
treatment, and there remain until the tide came up and literally 
drowned them by inches. Yet even in cases like this with camels, 
the intelligent elephant is capable of being made of great assist¬ 
ance. 
