230 
12-PK. GUN WITH ELEPHANT EQUIPMENT. 
(iv) . Loads must be equalised on both sides. 
(v) . Elephants* feets are liable to get sore when working on 
metalled roads on stony ground. They should be let off 
work for 2 or 3 days and their feet ‘ chobed,’ in order to 
make them hard. This consists in putting on a mixture 
of grease, aloes, wax, etc; the ingredients are obtainable 
from the Commissariat. If the f chobing * is well done 
the soles of the feets should be quite hard in 2 or 3 days. 
(vi) . In spite of the somewhat rough usage the gun was sub¬ 
jected to, the Scotts’ sight brackets did not get out of 
adjustment. Several of the small levelling screws on the 
bracket were, however, either broken off or bent. 
(vii) . The ammunition mules carried ordnance saddles, and the 
ammunition ponies the smaller transport saddles. The 
ammnnition boxes are made for the former saddle, and 
the riugs on the boxes are too far apart (by about 2 
inches) to go on the transport saddles* hooks. This 
difficulty was obviated by the farrier making up a pair of 
S hooks for each box to be carried by the ponies; these 
hooks were closed on to the rings on the boxes, and then 
hooked onto the hooks on the saddle. 
(viii). The harness was very much too big all round for the 
Punch ponies, and required a good deal of cutting down 
to make it look at all ship shape. 
The way in which the men buckled to at their new work was most 
praiseworthy, and considering how little a Horse Artilleryman is 
asked to walk as a rule, pedestrian powers were soon manifested, and 
good times done during route marches. Not being sent beyond 
Peshawar (except 24 men, who augmented No. 1 Mountain Battery 
for the week they were away in the Bazar Valley) was a great disap¬ 
pointment to everyone. 
No one will argue for a moment that the presence of elephants was 
a necessity in the Khyber, but still, considering that the battery was 
in every way completely organised to move at a moment’s notice, it 
seems a pity that it was not found possible for the equipment to be 
tried outside Peshawar, when some of the vexed questions relating to 
elephants and their doings might have been settled for good. The 
arguments against such a battery being used on service were numerous. 
The elephant’s enormous appetite (480 lbs. of green food per diem) is 
always against his use; then there are the usual questions asked : 
What will an elephant do if hit, or even when sniping is going on will 
there not be a stampede ? Can he get over rough ground, and doesn’t 
he get sore feet easily, and so on. These questions can only be truth¬ 
fully answered after practical experience—answers are otherwise based 
on imagination only. 
