530 
THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
pliant is ever worshipped. The white elephants, rose-tinted as they are, are as strik¬ 
ing as they are relatively rare. They are albinos and simply “freaks of nature.” 
Though the people of Burmah worship the white elephant, this observance 
is not so general or so much a matter of faith with them as with the Siamese. 
Longing as the Hindoo does for the relief from earthly toil and care known as 
Nirvana, he regards the elephant as the symbol of this life in death to come. To 
him the elephant seems to have achieved all that is possible for mere body, and 
to have attained a patience which is an evidence of progress towards the envi¬ 
able state when, losing one’s identity, a person becomes a part of the mighty 
power which crushes mankind, instead of being an isolated being created appa¬ 
rently solely that he may be crushed. The palace or temple of the white ele¬ 
phant adjoins that of royalty, and the furnishing of his abode is no less regal 
and foolish. Sakyamuni, the priest and prophet, was himself at one time the 
occupant of the body of the white 
elephant. Endurance, patience, 
submission being the cardinal 
principles of his teachings, no 
wonder that religious enthusiasts 
make of themselves a tessellated 
pavement over which the white 
elephant is to walk. 
The Ceylon elephant is small, 
tuskless (or almost so), gentle and 
docile. The Sumatra elephant is 
more slender, delicate and intelli¬ 
gent. Albinos are found in all 
these species, and in Siam are 
called royal elephants. It has 
been said that the average lon¬ 
gevity of the Asiatic elephant is 
seventy-five years, but in at least 
one instance, an elephant, though 
in captivity, lived one hundred 
and fifty years. The elephant 
plays quite an important part in Asiatic history and is often hunted for its 
hide and its flesh, as well as for mere sport or adventure. When Alexander the 
Great was engaged in his conquest of the then known world, he met among 
other enemies King Porus, of India, and for the first time had to contend 
against the elephant in war. 
HOW ELEPHANTS ARE CAPTURED. 
When the Indians need a fresh supply of elephants they proceed in one of two 
ways. First they may use as decoys females trained for that purpose, and who 
occupy the attention of the males until they have been lassoed about the legs 
and securely fastened to trees. After this they are left to wear out their strength 
and grow enfeebled by hunger and thirst, until they are not wholly intractable. 
Then they are fed first upon the food which they consider least palatable, and grad¬ 
ually upon what they prefer, until they learn that their entire dependence is upon 
their captors. The other method is to build a stout corral toward which the herd 
