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together, the young ones go and suck of any as of their mothers, and if a young one be in distress, and should cry out, they will all, in general, run to the help and aid thereof; and if they be going over a river, as here be some somewhat broad, and the streams run very swift, they will all with their trunks assist and help to convey the young ones over."

In the "Wild Sports of South Africa,” Captain Harris relates several anecdotes of the affection shown by the calf elephant to its dead parent, which are too painful to relate; they make us question how far he was justified in thus making the wanton use of his rifle a means of displaying such beautiful instincts of nature.

Elephants are susceptible of warm feelings of attachment to each other, as well as to their keepers; they have been known to welcome an old companion with cries of great joy, on his escape from captivity. The mode of taking the elephant is by rather unfairly practising upon his affections, tame females being employed to entice him into the snares laid in readiness for him. After his

capture, "the animal is most carefully attended upon; all his necessities are diligently supplied; he has abundance of food and drink; his skin is kept cool by continued applications of water; the flies that irritate him are driven off. One man (his intended keeper) is always about him, soothing him by the most diligent kindness. The animal gradually learns that his comforts must depend on the will of his keeper, and he allows him, therefore, to approach him, and at length to get upon his back. As the elephant gains confidence, the keeper gets more bold, and soon takes his position upon the neck with the iron hook, (hawkus or ankush) ready to direct him, by catching hold of his ear, or pressing it into his skin; to this rough monitor he gradually yields entire submission, as the horse submits to be urged on by the spur. The method of reducing the elephant to obedience pursued at this day in Hindostan is doubtless that which has been observed for centuries in a country where nothing changes. It is generally as long as six months before the elephant is rendered perfectly obedient

to his keeper, so as to be conducted from place to place without difficulty. The females are invariably more docile than the males, and require much less severity in breaking them in. There is a great difference of character and disposition amongst elephants; of the three with which Bishop Heber travelled in Oude, one was described by his mohout as a fine-tempered beast, but the other two, he said, were great rascals.'"*

Dampier, describing the curiosities of Tonquin, says: "Some of the elephants are very gentle and governable; others are more indocile and unruly; when these rude ones are to pass through the streets, though only to be watered, the rider or dresser orders a gong or drum to be beaten before him, to warn people that an unruly elephant is coming; and they presently clear the streets, and give a passage for the beast, who will do mischief to any that are in the way; and their riders or keepers cannot restrain him." The differences

of character between elephants is so marked, that at the Court of Siam, according to Tavernier, "if

* Knight's Menagerie.

any favourite elephant dies, he is with funeral pomp burned to ashes with reeds, and the weight of his body of sweet wood; but if he be an offender, he is not burnt, but buried."

The elephant's memory of injuries is well known, and according to the disposition of the animal does he slightly or severely punish his offender. Williamson tells an anecdote of an elephant, who refused to bear a greater weight on the march than was agreeable. The quarter-master, irritated at his obstinacy, threw a tent-pin at his head. In a few days after, as the animal was going from the camp to water, he overtook the quarter-master, and seizing him with his trunk, lifted him into a large tamarind-tree, which overhung the road, leaving him to cling to the boughs, and get down as well as he could." "Lieutenant Shipp, to try this memory of injuries, gave an elephant a large quantity of Cayenne pepper between two pieces of bread. The animal was much irritated by the offence; and about six weeks after, when the unsuspecting joker went to fondle him, he endured the caresses very placidly, but finished the affair

by drenching his persecutor with dirty water from head to foot. In the progress of the embassy from the Vizier of Oude to Calcutta, to meet Lord Cornwallis, a male baggage elephant, carrying a number of people on his back, was suddenly irritated by his keeper, who struck him violently with his hawkus. The unhappy man was in an instant pulled from his seat by the enraged beast, who suspended him by his trunk in a way which rendered escape impossible, and then dashed him to pieces. Mr. Zoffany, an English artist, painted a spirited picture of the circumstance, of which he was an eye-witness." *

Chambers, in his "Miscellany," mentions, that at the Liverpool Zoological Gardens, after delighting groups of young holiday folks by his skilful and docile performances, the elephant gave some offence to one of the deputy-keepers, and was by him chastised with a broomstick. No one was by to see what occurred in the next few minutes; but at the expiration of that time, the unfortunate deputy-keeper was found dead at the feet of the * Knight's Menagerie.

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