ent. ELEPHANT. the elephant is universally allowed to be the most tractable and obediWhen treated with kindness, he testifies his gratitude by fulfilling all the desires of his keeper, caresses him with affectionate fondness, receives his commands with attention, and executes them with punctuality and zeal. He bends the knee for the accommodation of those who wish to mount upon his back, suffers himself to be harnessed, and seems to delight in the finery of his trappings. These animals are used in drawing chariots, waggons and various sorts of machines, having the strength of six horses; and they can travel near a hundred miles a day, and fifty or sixty regularly, without any violent effort. ELEPHANT. It sometimes happens, however, that domesticated elephants make their escape to the wild herd. Warren Hastings, the governor-general of India, possessed an elephant, which had been ten years absent from the rule of man.. His keeper being dismissed, he was refractory to all others, who attempted to control him; and, at length, escaped. After the long interval we have mentioned, his old keeper recognized him, and the elephant instantlysubmitted himself. The preceding is an exact portrait of this beautiful animal. The instrument which he carries with his trunk is described as a cow-tail, with a silver handle, which elephants of rank bear for driving off flies. "In taking the elephant, a large piece of ground is marked out, in the midst of some forest, and surrounded with strong palisades, interwoven with large branches of trees; one end of this enclosure is narrow, from which it opens gradually, so as to take in a considerable extent of country. Some thousands of people assemble, kindle large fires, of which the elephants are exceedingly afraid, and by these and the noise of drums, they drive them towards the enclosure. Another large party with the aid of female elephants trained for the purpose, urge the wild ones slowly forward, the whole train closing in after them, shouting and making loud noises, till, by insensible degrees, they are driven into the narrow part, through which there is an opening into a smaller space, strongly fenced in and guarded on all sides. As soon as a wild elephant enters this narrow passage, a strong bar closes it from behind, and he finds himself completely environed. He is then urged forward to the end of the passage, where there is just room enough for him to go through. He is then received into the custody of two tame elephants, which stand one on each side; and if he be likely to prove refractory, they beat him with their trunks, till he is reduced to obedience and suffers himself to be led to a tree, where he is bound by the legs with stout thongs of untanned elk-skins. The tame elephants are then led back to the enclosure, and other wild ones are brought to submission in the same manner. Attendants are placed by the side of each elephant that is caught, and in the space of fourteen days, his subjugation is completed." Elephants are sometimes taken, as in the kingdom of Ava, and other places, by means of decoy female elephants. These elephants are so trained as to favor the designs of their drivers. When a male wild elephant is discovered alone, the decoy elephants are let loose, upon which they proceed cautiously towards him, grazing along, as if they were, like him, inhabitants of the wild forest. As they approach him, he generally makes up to them, and abandons himself to their caresses. In the mean time, the hunters cautiously creep under him, and during the intoxication of his pleasure, fasten his fore legs with a strong rope; after which the hind legs are secured in a similar manner, when the females quit him, he discovers his condition, and endeavors to make his escape. If the ropes are sufficiently strong, he soon becomes exhausted with his own rage. ELEPHANT. The following is a representation of the manner of securing a male elephant as just described. This extraordinary quadruped is thirty years in arriving at its full growth, and lives even in a state of captivity a hundred and twenty years; in a state of natural freedom, the duration of its life is supposed to be much further extended. 66 In regard to the Elephant's discernment and sagacity, stories have been related that might seem incredible, and of which some are undoubtedly fictitious. Of such, however, as are so well authenticated as not to admit of a doubt, we have a sufficient number to shew its superiority over the rest of the brute creation. Some of the actions of ELEPHANT. this surprising animal might, indeed, almost seem to be the effects of a portion of intellect, rather than of mere instinct. "Among the several anecdotes communicated by the Marquis de Montmirail, we find that the cornac or conductor of an elephant, had excited the animal to make an extraordinary effort, by showing him a vessel of arrack, which he pointed out as his reward; but when he had performed his arduous task, the elephant had the mortification of seeing himself disappointed of his expected recompense, and impatient of being thus mocked, immediately killed his governor. "The man's wife who was a spectator of this dreadful catastrophe, in a fit of agonizing grief, took her two little infants and threw them at the feet of the enraged animal, saying, "since you have destroyed my husband, kill me also and my children." The elephant immediately stopped; and, as if stung with remorse, took up the eldest boy with his trunk, placed him on his neck, and would never after obey any other governor. It is here to be observed, that the elephant is extremely fund of spirituous liquors, as well as of wine; and the sight of a vessel filled with these liquors, will induce him to make the most extraordinary exertions, and to perform the most painful tasks; and to disappoint him is dangerous, and his revenge is almost certain. But if he is vindictive, he is equally grateful, and will suffer no kindness shown him to go unrewarded. “A soldier of Pondicherry, who frequently carried one of these animals a certain measure of arrack, being one day a little intoxicated, and seeing himself pursued by the guard, who were about to conduct him to prison, took refuge under the elephant, where he fell sound asleep. The guard attempted in vain to take him from this asylum, the elephant defending him with his trunk. The next day, the soldier becoming sober, was terrified at seeing himself placed under so enormous an animal; but the elephant caressed him with his trunk, to remove his fears, and made him understand that he might depart in safety. "The elephant is sometimes seized with a sort of phrenzy, which makes him extremely formidable, so that on the first symptoms of madness, he is commonly killed, in order to prevent mischief: yet in these fits he has been frequently known to distinguish his benefactors; so strongly are gratitude and magnanimity impressed on his nature. "The elephant that was kept in the menagerie, at Versailles, always discerned when any person designed to make a fool of him, and always remembered an affront, which he never failed to revenge at the first opportunity. Having been cheated by a man who feigned to throw something into his mouth, he struck him with his trunk, and broke two of his ribs, and afterwards trampled him under his feet, and broke one of his legs. A Painter being desirous of drawing him in the attitude of having his trunk erect and his mouth open, ordered his servants to make him retain that posture, by constantly throwing him fruit; the servant however at last deceived him, which so roused his indignation, that perceiving the original cause of the deception to be the painter's desire of drawing him, he revenged himself by throwing with his trunk a large quantity of water on the paper, which completely spoiled the design. 66 ELEPHANT. The elephants exhibited in Europe are commonly of a diminutive size, as the coldness of the climate both checks the growth and abridges the life of these animals. That which has just been mentioned, and which was sent by the King of Portugal to Lonis 14th A. D. 1668, died in 1681, being four years old at his arrival, and being only thirteen years at the menagerie at Versailles. He was six feet and a half high, at four years old, and advanced in growth only one foot, during the thirteen years that he lived in France, although he was treated with care, and fed with profusion. He had every day four pounds of bread, twelve pints of wine, two buckets of porridge, with four or five pounds of steeped bread, and two buckets of rice boiled in water. "The elephant that died in 1803 at Exeter change, was brought over in the Rose East Indiaman, and purchased by the owner of the menagerie for £1000. He was generally fed with hay and straw, and could also eat with avidity, carrots, cabbages, bread and boiled potatoes. He was so excessively fond of beer, that he has been known to drink upwards of fifty quarts in a day given by his numerous visiters. He drank also nine pails of water daily, given at three different times; but the quantity he ate could not be precisely ascertained, as he frequently scattered great part of the straw which was given him for food, and ate a considerable portion of that which formed his litter. This animal would kneel down, bow to the company, or search the pocket of his keeper at command." The elephant is invariably employed in India, in hunting the tiger. Occasionally the hunter, with his rifle, is mounted on the elephant's back. When a tiger is perceived, he is fired at; if wounded, he generally bounds towards the elephant, with savage ferocity. In the mean time, the elephant, assisted by the hunters, prepare to keep him at bay; but if, at any time, the elephant's proboscis be injured, the contest ends from that moment. He seems to lose his self command, his courage, and even his senses, and sets off at full speed, utterly regardless of his driver, and heedless of the way he takes. The following is a representation of an elephant thus wounded, fleeing from a tiger. |