THE ELEPHANT.

The Elephant, the human species excepted, is the most considerable

animal of this world; he surpasses all terrestrial beings in size, and

approaches near to man in understanding, as much, at least, as matter

can approach to mind. The elephant, dog, beaver, and ape, of all the

animated beings, have the most admirable instinct; but this instinct,

which is only the product of all the interior and exterior faculties

of the animal, manifests itself very differently in every one of these

species. The dog is naturally as cruel and bloody as the wolf; but his

ferocious nature is to be conquered by gentleness: he only differs

from the other animals of prey, by possessing a degree of sensibility,

which makes him susceptible of affection, and capable of attachment.

He has from nature this disposition, which man has cultivated and

improved by a constant and ancient society with this animal. The

dog alone was worthy of this attention, as he is more capable than

any other quadruped of foreign impressions, his social nature has

improved all his relative faculties. His sensibility, tractable temper,

courage, talents, and even his manners, are modified by the example

and qualities of his matter. He has not then, from nature, all those

qualifications he appears to possess, but has acquired them from his

intercourse with men; he is only more susceptible of tuition than other

animals; far from having, like most of them, a disgust for man, his

inclination leads him to seek their society: actuated by a desire of

pleasing, his tractability, fidelity, constant submission, and that

attention necessary to act in consequence of man's orders, are the

result of this natural sentiment.

The ape, on the contrary, is untractable and eccentric; his nature

is perverse; he has no relative sensibility, no gratitude for good

treatment, and no remembrance of favours; he is naturally averse from

the society of man, he hates constraint, is mischievous by nature,

and inclined to do every thing hurtful and disagreeable. But these

real faults are compensated by seeming perfections. His exterior

conformation resembles that of man, he has arms, hands, and fingers.

The use of these parts alone, makes him superior in dexterity to

other animals; and the affinities to us which he then possesses by a

similarity of motions, and the conformity of his actions, please and

deceive us, and induce us to attribute to interior qualities, what

depends merely on the formation of his members.

The beaver, who seems inferior to the dog and ape, by his individual

faculties, has nevertheless received from Nature a gift almost

equivalent to that of speech; he makes himself so well understood by

those of his own species, as to bring them together; to act in concert,

and to undertake and execute extensive and continued labours in common;

and this social love, as well as the product of their reciprocal

understanding, have better claims to our admiration, than the dexterity

of the ape, or the faithfulness of the dog.

Thus the dog's genius is only borrowed; the ape has but the appearance

of sagacity, and the beaver is only sensible in regard to himself, and

those of his species. The elephant is superior to them all three, for

in him are united all their most eminent qualities. The hand is the

principal organ of the ape's dexterity; the elephant is equally so

with his trunk, which serves him instead of arms and hands, by it he

can lift up, and seize small as well as large objects, carry them to

his mouth, place them on his back, hold them fast, or throw them to a

distance; he has at the same time the docility of the dog; he is, like

him, susceptible of gratitude, capable of a strong attachment, attends

upon man without reluctance, and submits to him, not so much by force

as good treatment; serves him with zeal, intelligence, and fidelity;

in fine, the elephant, the same as the beaver, likes the society of

his own species, and by whom he is understood. They are often seen to

assemble together, disperse, and act in concert, and if they do not

carry on any work in common, it is, perhaps, only for want of room and

tranquillity; for men have been very anciently multiplied in all the

regions inhabited by the elephant; he consequently lives in fear and

anxiety, and is no where a peaceful possessor of a space large and free

enough to establish a secure habitation. We have seen that all these

advantages are requisite to manifest the talents of the beaver, and

that wherever men are settled, he loses his industry, and ceases to

build. Every being has its relative value in Nature. To judge of the

elephant, we must allow him to possess the sagacity of the beaver,

the dexterity of the ape, the sentiment of the dog with the peculiar

advantages of strength, bigness, and longevity. We must not forget his

arms, or tusks, with which he can pierce through and conquer the lion.

We should also recollect that he shakes the ground at every step; that

with his trunk he roots out trees; that with the strength of his body,

he makes a breach in the wall; that though tremendous by his strength,

he is more invincible by the resistance of his bulky massiveness, and

the thickness of his skin; that he can carry on his back an armed tower

filled with many men; and that he alone moves machines, and carries

burthens, which six horses cannot move. To this prodigious strength, he

joins courage, prudence, coolness, and an exact obedience; he preserves

moderation even in his most violent passions; he is more constant than

impetuous in love: in anger he does not forget his friends; he never

attacks any but those who have given him some offence; and he remembers

favours as long as injuries. Having no taste for flesh, and feeding

chiefly upon vegetables, he is not naturally an enemy to any living

creature; he is beloved by them all, since all of them respect, and

no one has cause to fear him. For these reasons, men at all times

have had a sort of veneration for this first of animals. The ancients

considered the elephant as a prodigy, a miracle of Nature, and he is

in reality her greatest effort; they have attributed to him without

hesitation, intellectual qualities and moral virtues.

Pliny, Ælian, Solinus, Plutarch, and other more modern authors,

have even given to this animal rational faculties, a natural innate

religion, the observation of a daily worship, such as that of the sun

and moon, the use of ablution before adoration, a spirit of divination,

piety towards heaven and their fellow creatures whom they assist at

their deaths; and after their decease, express their regret by tears,

and cover them with earth. The Indians, prepossessed with the opinion

of the metempsychosis, are to this day persuaded, that a body so

majestic as that of the elephant cannot be animated but by the soul of

a great man, or a king. They respect at Siam,[AE] Laos, and Pegu, white

elephants as the living manes of the emperors of India. They have

each of them a palace, a number of servants, golden vessels, exquisite

dainties, magnificent trappings, and are absolved from all labour and

obedience; the living emperor is the only one before whom they kneel

down, and the monarch returns the salute. These flattering attentions,

this respect, these offerings flatter them but do not inspire them with

vanity; they have not consequently a human soul, and this circumstance

should be sufficient to prove it to the Indians.

[Footnote AE: The white elephant, so much respected in India, and who

has been the cause of so many wars, is very small and wrinkled with

age. He is attended by several mandarins who are appointed to take care

of him, and his victuals is presented to him in large golden vessels;

his apartment is very magnificent, and gilt all round. At about a

league from the country-house belonging to the king, is another white

elephant, kept as a successor to the former, whom they say is 300 years

old. He is also attended by mandarins, and his mother and aunt are kept

with him out of respect. _Premier Voyage du P. Tachard._]

Without adopting the credulities of antiquity, and the puerile fictions

of superstition, the elephant is an animal still worth the attention

of a philosopher, who ought to consider him as a being of the first

distinction. He deserves to be known, and to be observed; we shall

therefore write his history with impartiality; we shall consider him

at first in his state of nature when he is free and independent, and

afterwards in his servile condition, when the will of his master

becomes the cause of his actions.

In a wild state, the elephant is neither sanguinary nor ferocious; he

is of a mild temper, and never makes a bad use of his arms, or his

strength; for he never employs or exerts them but in his own defence,

or in protecting others of his species. His manners are social, for he

is seldom wandering alone: they commonly walk in troops, the oldest

leading, and the next in age bringing up the rear; the young and the

weak keeping in the middle. The females carry their young, and hold

them close with their trunks. They only observe this order in perilous

marches when they go to feed on cultivated lands; they travel with

less precaution in forests and solitary places, but without separating

to such a distance as not to be able to give to each other mutual

assistance, and warnings of danger. Some, however, straggle, and

remain behind, and it is none but these the hunters dare attack, for

a small army would be requisite to assail the whole herd, and they

could not conquer without a great loss of men. It is even dangerous to

do them the least injury, for they go straight to the offender, and

notwithstanding the great heaviness of their bodies they walk so fast

that they easily overtake the most agile man; they pierce him through

with their tusks, or seize him with their trunks; throw him like a

stone, and then kill him by treading him under their feet. But it is

only when they have been provoked that they become so furious and so

implacable; they do no harm to those who do not disturb them; yet,

as they are very suspicious, and sensible of injuries, it is proper

to avoid them; and the travellers who frequent the countries where

they are numerous, light great fires in the night, and beat drums,

to prevent their approach. It is said that when they have been once

attacked by men, or have fallen into a snare, they never forget it,

but seek for revenge on all occasions. As they have a most exquisite

sense of smelling, perhaps more perfect than that of any other animal,

they smell a man at a great distance, and can easily follow him by the

scent. The ancients have asserted that the elephant tears up the grass

where the hunters have passed, and with their trunks convey it to each

other, in order to give information of the passage and march of the

enemy. These animals are fond of the banks of rivers, deep valleys,

shady places, and marshy grounds. They cannot go long without water,

which they make thick and muddy before they drink it. They often fill

their trunks with water, either to convey it to their mouths, or only

to cool their noses, and to amuse themselves in sprinkling it around

them. They cannot support cold, and suffer equally from excessive heat;

to avoid the burning rays of the sun, they penetrate into the thickest

recesses of the forests. They bathe often in the water; the enormous

size of their bodies is rather an advantage to them in swimming, and

they do not sink so deep in the water as other animals; besides, the

length of their trunks, which they erect in the air, and through which

they breathe, takes from them all fear of being drowned.

Their common food is roots, herbs, leaves, and young branches; they

also eat fruit and corn, but they have a dislike to flesh and fish.

When one of them finds a good pasture, he calls the others, and invites

them to come and feed with him. As they consume a great quantity of

fodder, they often change their place, and when they find cultivated

lands they make a prodigious waste; their bodies being of an enormous

weight, they destroy ten times more with their feet, than they consume

for their food, which may be reckoned at 150lbs. of grass daily; and

as they always keep in great numbers together, they will lay waste a

large territory in an hour's time; for this reason the Indians and

Negroes exert every means to prevent their visits, and to drive them

away; they make great noises, and large fires round their cultivated

lands; yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the elephants often

take possession of them, drive away the cattle and men, and sometimes

pull down their cottages. It is difficult to frighten them, as they

are little susceptible of fear; the only things that can stop their

progress are fire-works, and crackers thrown amongst them; the sudden

and repeated noise of which sometimes occasions them to turn back. It

is very difficult to part them, for they commonly act together whether

they attack, proceed, or turn back.

When the females come in season this social intercourse yields to a

more lively sentiment; the herd separate in pairs, having each chosen

their mates; they then seek for solitary places, and in their march

love seems to precede and modesty to follow them; for they observe the

greatest mystery in their amours, and they have never been seen to

couple. They avoid the inspection of their own species, and, perhaps,

know better than ourselves the pure delight of secret pleasure, being

wholly taken with one beloved object. They retire into shady woods

and most solitary places, to give themselves up, without disturbance

or restraint, to the impulses of Nature, which are strong and lasting,

as they have long intervals between their seasons of love. The female

goes two years with young; when she is in that condition the male

abstains from her, and thus are they subjected to the influence of love

but once in three years. They bring forth only one young, which has

teeth at its birth, and is then bigger than a wild boar; his tusks are

not visible, but they appear soon after, and when six months old they

are some inches long. At that age the elephant is bigger than the ox,

and the tusks continue to increase till he is much advanced in years,

provided the animal is in health, and at liberty, for it is scarcely

to be imagined how much slavery and unnatural food change his natural

habit and constitution.

The elephant is easily tamed, brought into submission, and instructed,

and as he is the strongest and most sensible of animals, he is more

serviceable than any of them; but he seems always to feel his servile

condition, for though subject to the powerful impressions of love they

never couple, nor produce in a state of domesticity. His passion,

irritated by constraint, degenerates into fury; as he cannot indulge

it without witnesses he becomes violent and intractable, and the

strongest chains and fetters are often found necessary to stop his

impetuosity, and subdue his anger. Thus the elephant differs from all

domestic animals which man treats or manages as beings without will;

he is not like these born slaves, which we mutilate or multiply for

our use. Here the individual alone is a slave, the species remains

independent, and constantly refuses to increase for the benefit of

their tyrants. This alone shews in the elephant elevated sentiments

superior to the nature of common brutes. To be agitated by the most

ardent desires, and to deny themselves the satisfaction of enjoying

them; to be subjected to all the fury of love, and yet not to violate

the laws of modesty, are, perhaps, the highest efforts of human virtue,

but which in these majestic animals are all suggested by instinct, and

from which they never deviate. Enraged that they cannot be gratified

without witnesses their fury becomes stronger than their passion of

love, destroys the effects of it, and provokes, at the same time, that

anger which, in those instants, renders the elephant more dangerous

than any other wild animal.

We should be inclined to doubt this fact, were it possible, but

naturalists, historians, and travellers, all agree, that the elephants

never produce in a domestic state. The kings of India keep a great

number of them, and after having endeavoured in vain to make them

multiply, like other domestic animals, they found it necessary to part

the males from the females, to prevent that fury which is occasioned

by the irritation of desires they will not satisfy in a state of

subjection. There are, therefore, no domestic elephants but what have

been wild, and the manner of taking, taming, and bringing them into

submission deserves particular attention. In the middle of forests,

and in the vicinity of the places frequented by the elephants, a spot

is chosen, and encircled with palisadoes; the strongest trees of the

forest serve for stakes, to which are fastened cross pieces of timber,

which support the other stakes. A man may easily pass through this

palisado; a large opening is also left, through which the elephant may

go in, and over it is a trap, or large stake, which is let down to

shut the opening after the animal has entered. To bring him to this

inclosure the hunters take a tame female with them into the forest,

who is in season, and when when they think she is near enough to be

heard they oblige her to make the cry of love, the wild male answers

immediately, and begins his march to meet her. She is then led towards

the inclosure, repeating her call now and then; she arrives first,

and the male following her track enters through the same gate. As

soon as he perceives himself enclosed his ardour vanishes, and when

he discovers the hunters he becomes furious; they throw ropes at him

with a running knot, by which they fetter his legs and trunk; they then

bring two or three tame elephants, led by dextrous men, and endeavour

to tie him to one of them; in short, by dint of dexterity, strength,

terror, and caresses, they succeed in taming him in a few days.

I shall not enter into more particulars on this subject, but refer

to those travellers who have been ocular witnesses of the manner of

hunting the elephants;[AF] it varies according to different countries,

and according to the power and the abilities of those who make war

against them, for instead of erecting, like the kings of Siam, walls,

terraces, or making palisades around large inclosures, the poor negroes

use the most simple snares; they dig pits in the passages, where the

elephants are known to pass, so deep as to prevent their getting out

again when fallen in.

[Footnote AF: For the purpose of hunting the elephant, they have at a

little distance from Luovo, a kind of amphitheatre, surrounded with

high walls, where those are placed who wish to see the sport. In the

middle of these walls a palisade is formed, with strong stakes fixed

in the ground; a pretty large opening is left on the side next the

forest, and a smaller one towards the city, into which the elephant

cannot enter without difficulty. Upon the day fixed upon for the chace,

the hunters go into the forests upon some female elephants covering

themselves with leaves to prevent being seen; having reason to suppose

there are wild ones near, they make the females utter certain cries,

and which the wild males instantly answer; the hunter then drives the

female back to the above amphitheatre, whither the male constantly

follows her, and being entered the large opening is immediately shut.

At the one we were present, the females went out on the other side,

but from the smallness of the size the wild one refused to enter;

the females repeated their cries, and some of the Siamese began to

irritate him, by clapping their hands, and crying _pat, pat_, while

others struck him with long poles that had sharp points, all of whom he

pursued, but they escaped by slipping between the palisades, sufficient

spaces being left for that purpose; at length he fixed upon one whom he

pursued with great fury, and the man running into this narrow passage

the elephant followed him, but the moment he entered, the bars, before

and behind, were let fall, and he no sooner found himself in the snare

than he made the most violent efforts, and raised the most hideous

cries. The hunters then endeavoured to sooth him by flinging quantities

of water upon his body and trunk, rubbing him with leaves, putting oil

on his ears, and bringing tame elephants, who seemed to caress him with

their trunks, one of which, properly trained, was mounted by a man who

made him go backwards and forwards to shew as it were the stranger that

he had nothing to fear. Ropes were thrown round his hind legs and body,

and then the bar was taken away from the further end, where being come

he was tied to two tame elephants one of each side of him these led

him the way while another pushed him behind with his head until they

came to a kind of shade where he was fastened to a large post, like the

capstan of a ship, and there left till the next day. While here, one

of the Bramins, or priests, dressed in white, and mounted on another

elephant, goes to him and sprinkles him with consecrated water, which

they imagine has the power of divesting him of his ferocity. Next day

he is marched off with the other elephants, and by the end of the

fifteenth, they are in general perfectly tame. _Premier Voyage du P.

Tachard._

In Ethiopia they take great numbers of these animals by forming an

inclosure in the thickest parts of the forests, leaving a sufficient

opening, with a door lying flat on the ground; the hunters sit to watch

for the elephant on a tree and as soon as he enters they draw up the

door with a rope, then descend and attack him with arrows, but if by

any chance he gets out of his confinement, he kills every man that he

can come near. _L'Afrique de Marmol._

At Ceylon they take the elephant by digging deep ditches lightly

covering them over, in places frequented by these animals, who coming

on this covering in the night, unavoidably fall in and are unable to

get out again; here the slaves supply them with food, to whom they,

in a short time, are so accustomed, and familiar, as to be led up to

Goa perfectly tame. They have also a mode of hunting them with two

tame females, whom they take into the forests, and coming near a wild

elephant, they let them loose; these go up to the strange one on each

side, press so closely against him as to force him their way, and

render it impossible for him to escape. _Memoir es touchant les Indes

Orientales. Voyages de P. Philippe, Thevenot, &c._]

The elephant, when once tamed, becomes the most tractable and

submissive of all animals; he conceives an affection for his leader,

caresses him, and seems to foresee whatever can please him; in a

little time he understands signs, and even the expression of sounds;

he distinguishes the tones of command, anger, or approbation, and acts

accordingly. He never mistakes the voice of his master; he receives his

orders with attention, executes them with prudence and eagerness, but

without precipitation, for his motions are always measured, and his

character seems to participate of the gravity of his body. He is easily

taught to bend his knees to assist those who ride on his back; he

caresses his friends, salutes the persons he is directed to take notice

of, lifts up burdens, and helps to load himself with his trunk; he has

no aversion to being clothed, and seems to delight in a golden harness

or magnificent trappings; he is easily put into traces, and often

employed in drawing; he draws evenly, without slopping or any marks

of dislike, provided he is not insulted by unseasonable correction,

and that his driver seems to approve the spontaneous exertion of his

strength. His conductor is mounted on his neck, and makes use of an

iron rod, hooked at the end, with which he strikes him on the head, or

sides, to make him turn, or increase his pace; but a word is commonly

sufficient, especially, if the animal has bad time to make himself

well acquainted with his conductor, and has a confidence in him. His

attachment is sometimes so strong, and so lasting, and his affection so

great, that he will refuse to serve a second person, and has been known

to die of grief when in a fit of rage he has happened to destroy his

keeper.

The species of the elephant is numerous, though they bring forth but

one in two or three years. In proportion to the shortness of the life

of an animal is its multiplicity of production; and in the elephant

the duration of its existence compensates for the smallness of its

number; and if it be true that they live 200 years, and propagate

until they are 120, each couple may bring forth forty in that time.

Besides, having nothing to fear from other animals, and being taken by

men with great difficulty and danger, the species has not decreased,

and is generally dispersed in all the southern parts of Africa and

Asia. They are numerous at Ceylon, in the Mogul dominions, in Bengal,

Siam, Pegu, and the other territories of India. They are perhaps, in

a greater number in the South of Africa, except some parts which

they have abandoned, since they have been so fully inhabited by men.

They are faithful to their country, and constant to their climate,

for though they can live in temperate regions it does not seem that

they ever attempted to settle, or even to travel into them. They were

formerly unknown in Europe. It does not seem that Homer, who speaks

of the ivory, knew the animal from whom it is obtained. Alexander was

the first who rode upon an elephant in Europe. He sent into Greece

those which he took at Porus, and were, perhaps, the same which Pyrrhus

employed several years after against the Romans, in the Tarentine

war, and with which Curius adorned his triumph into Rome. Hannibal

afterwards brought them from Africa, made them pass the Alps, and led

them almost to the gates of Rome.

From time immemorial the Indians have made use of elephants in war.

Among those nations, unacquainted with military discipline, they

formed their best troop, and as long as battles were decided by iron

weapons they commonly vanquished. Yet we learn by history that the

Greeks and Romans soon used themselves to those monsters of war; they

opened their ranks to let them go through; they did not attempt to

wound them, but threw all their darts against their leaders, who were

obliged to turn all their attention to the elephant, when separated

from their troops. Now that fire is become the element of war, and the

principal instrument of death, elephants, who are afraid of noise and

flame, would be rather an incumbrance in battle, and more dangerous

than useful. The kings of India still arm their elephants in war, but

it is more for shew than for real service; yet they derive from these

animals the same utility that arises from an army which is to enslave

their equals; they make use of them to subdue the wild elephants. The

most powerful monarchs of the Indies have now above 200 elephants for

war. They keep many others for different services, and to carry the

large cages in which their women travel; it is a perfectly safe way of

travelling, for the elephant never stumbles; but time is required to be

used to the motions of his pace. The best place is upon the neck, as

you there ride more easy than on the shoulders or the back; but in war,

or hunting, several men ride the same elephant: the conductor rides on

his neck, and the hunters, or warriors, are placed on other parts of

his body.

In those happy regions, where our cannon and our murdering arts are

yet scarcely known, they fight still upon elephants. At Cochin, and

in the other parts of Malabar, they make no use of horses, and all

those who do not fight on foot are mounted upon elephants. In Tonquin,

Siam, and Pegu, the king, and all the grandees, ride on nothing but

elephants; on festival days they are preceded and followed by a great

number of these animals, superbly caparisoned, and covered with the

richest stuffs. They surround their tusks with gold and silver rings;

they paint their ears and cheeks; they crown them with garlands, and

their harness is ornamented with little bells; they seem to delight in

magnificent attire, and the more their trappings are rich and splendid

the more they are cheerful and caressing. It is only in the East

Indies that the elephants are so far improved, for in Africa they can

scarcely tame them. The Asiatics, anciently civilized, have reduced

the education of the elephant into a system, and they have instructed

and modified him according to their manners. But of all the Africans

the Carthaginians were the only people who trained up the elephants to

war, because at the time of the splendor of their commonwealth they

were, perhaps, more civilized than any other of the eastern nations.

At present no wild elephants are found in all that part of Africa on

this side Mount Atlas; there are even few beyond those mountains, as

far as the river Senegal. But they are numerous in Senegal, in Guinea,

in Congo, and on the Teeth Coast, in the countries of Anto, Acra,

Benin, and all the other southern parts of Africa, as far as the Cape

of Good Hope, except some provinces very populous, such as Fida, Ardra,

&c. They are also found in Abyssinia, in Ethiopia, in Nigritia, on the

eastern coast, and in the inland parts of Africa. They are also in the

great islands of India and Africa, such as Madagascar, Java, and the

Philippines.

After comparing the relations of travellers and historians it seems

that elephants are actually more numerous in Africa than in Asia; they

are there also less mistrustful, and not so shy, as if they knew the

unskilfulness and the little power of the men who inhabit this part

of the world; they come daily without fear to their habitations, and

treat the negroes with that natural and scornful indifference they

have for other animals; they do not consider those men as powerful and

formidable beings, but as a species whose skill consists in laying

snares, without having the courage to encounter them, and absolutely

ignorant of the art of reducing them into subjection. It is by this

art known, from the earliest times, to the eastern nations, that their

species is diminished. The wild elephants, which they tame, become by

their captivity, like so many voluntary eunuchs, which daily drain

the source of generation; but, on the contrary, in Africa, where they

are all free, the whole species propagate, and all the individuals

constantly concur to its increase. I do not know any other cause

for this difference in their numbers, for, in considering the other

effects, it seems the south of India, and the east of Africa, are the

natural countries, and the most suitable to the elephant. He is there

much larger and stronger than in Guinea, or in the other western parts

of Africa. He fears excessive heat, and never inhabits the burning

sands; he is most frequently found on the flat countries near the

rivers, and never on the hilly parts of Africa; but in India the most

powerful and the most courageous of the species, and who have the

strongest and longest tusks, are the elephants of the mountains; they

inhabit the high grounds, where the air being more temperate, the water

more pure, and the food more wholesome, they gradually arrive to the

full perfection of their nature.

In general the elephants of Asia are larger and superior in strength,

to those of Africa; particularly those of Ceylon, which exceed in

courage and sagacity even those of Asia. Probably they owe these

qualifications to their more improved education; it is, however,

certain, that all travellers have celebrated the elephants of this

island, where the ground is interspersed with mountains, which rise

gradually towards the centre, and where the heat is not so excessive as

in Senegal, Guinea, and other western parts of Africa. The ancients,

who knew no more of this part of the world, but the countries seated

between Mount Atlas and the Mediterranean, had observed, that the

elephants of Lybia were much smaller than those of India. There are not

any elephants at this time, in that part of Africa, which proves, as

mentioned in the article of the Lion, that men are more numerous there

now than they were in the ages of Carthage. The elephants have retired

in proportion as men have molested them; but in travelling through the

climates of Africa, they have not changed their nature; for those of

Senegal, Guinea, &c. are at this time smaller than those of India.

The strength of these animals is proportionate to their bigness. The

elephants of India carry with ease burdens of three or four thousand

pounds weight; the smallest, that is, those of Africa, lift up freely

with their trunks, burdens of two hundredweight, and place them on

their shoulders; they take into their trunks a great quantity of water,

which they throw out around them, at seven or eight feet distance; they

can carry a weight of a thousand pounds upon their tusks; with their

trunks they break off branches, and with their tusks they root out

trees. Their strength may be judged of by their agility, comparatively

to the bulk of their bodies; they walk as fast as a horse goes on

an easy trot; and they run as fast as a horse can gallop; which

seldom happens in their wild state, except when they are provoked

or frightened. The tame elephants are commonly walked; they travel

easily, and without fatigue, fifteen or twenty leagues a day; and, when

hurried, they can travel thirty-five or forty. Their steps are heard

at a great distance, and they may be followed by their tracks, for

the marks they leave on the ground are fifteen or eighteen inches in

diameter.

A domestic elephant does, perhaps, to his master more real service than

five or six horses; but he requires much care and abundance of good

food; it is computed that he consumes to the amount of an hundred

pence per day. He is commonly fed with raw or boiled rice mixed with

water; and it is reckoned he wants one hundred pounds of rice daily to

be kept in his full vigour; they give him also grass to cool him, for

he is often over-heated, and must be led to the water that he may bathe

two or three times a day; he easily learns to wash himself; he takes

the water up in his trunk, carries it to his mouth, drinks part, and

then by elevating his trunk, lets the remainder flow over every part

of his body. To give an idea of the services he is able to perform, it

is sufficient to observe, that all the bags, bales, and parcels, which

are transported from one place to another in the Indies, are carried by

elephants; that they carry burdens on their bodies, their necks, their

tusks, and even with their mouths, by giving them the end of a rope

which they hold with their teeth.

When the elephant is taken care of he lives a long time even in

captivity; and it is to be presumed, that in a state of liberty his

life is still longer. Some authors say he lives four or five hundred

years; others, two or three hundred; and others, one hundred and

twenty, thirty, and even one hundred and fifty years. I take this last

opinion to be the nearest to the truth; and if it is certain, that

captive elephants live one hundred and twenty or thirty years; those

who are free, and enjoy all the conveniences and rights of Nature,

must live at least two hundred; besides, if their gestation lasts

two years, and thirty years are required to bring them to their full

growth, we may be assured that their life extends to the term we have

mentioned. It is not so much the captivity, as the change of climate

which shortens their existence: whatever care is taken of the elephant,

he does not live long in temperate, and still shorter in cold climates.

The elephant which the King of Portugal sent to Louis XIV. in 1668, and

who was then but four years old, died in his seventeenth, in January

1681, and lived only thirteen years in the menagerie of Versailles,

where he was treated with care and tenderness, and fed with profusion;

he had every day four score pounds of bread, twelve pints of wine, two

buckets of porridge, with four or five pounds of bread in it, the last

was changed every other day for two buckets of rice boiled in water,

without reckoning what was given him by visitors. He had, besides,

every day a sheaf of corn to amuse himself; for, after eating the ears,

he made large whisps of the straw, and used them to drive away the

flies. He delighted in breaking the straw in small bits, which he did

with great dexterity with his trunk; and as he was led to walk daily,

he pulled and eat the grass. The elephant who was lately at Naples,

though the heat is greater than at Paris, lived there but a few years.

Those which have been transported to Petersburg perished successively,

notwithstanding they were well sheltered, covered, and warmed with

stoves; consequently, we may conclude, that this animal cannot live in

a state of nature, nor multiply in Europe. But I am surprised that the

Portuguese, who first knew the use and value of these animals in the

East Indies, did not transport them into the warm climate of Brasil,

where they might have propagated, if left at liberty.

The common colour of the elephant is of ash grey, or blackish. White

ones, as we have observed, are extremely scarce: and some have been

seen in the Indies of a reddish colour; these and the white are

much esteemed; but these varieties are so scarce, that they cannot

be considered as a race distinct from the species, but rather as

accidental qualities peculiar to individuals; for otherwise, the

countries of the white, red, and black elephants would be known, as

well as the climates of white, red, and black men, and those of a

copper colour. "Elephants of three different sorts are found in the

Indies; (says Father Vincent Marie) the white, which are the largest,

most gentle, and of the best temper, are worshipped as gods by several

nations; the red, such as those of Ceylon, though the smallest, are the

most valiant, the strongest, and best for war, and the other elephants,

either from natural inclination, or perceiving in them something

superior, shew them a great respect; the third species, is that of the

black, which are the most common, and the least esteemed." This author

is the only one who has intimated that Ceylon was the peculiar climate

of red elephants; other travellers make no mention of such a fact. He

also affirms, that the elephants of Ceylon are smaller than the others.

Thevenot says the same thing in his voyage, but others assert the

contrary. Father Vincent Marie also, is the only author who has said

the white elephants are the largest. Father Tachard assures us on the

contrary, that the white elephant of the king of Siam was rather small,

though very old. After comparing the relations of travellers, in regard

to the size of elephants in different countries, it seems, that the

smallest are those of North and West Africa, and that the ancients, who

only knew the northern part of Africa, had some reason to say that,

in general, the elephants of the Indies were much larger than those of

Africa. But in the eastern parts of this quarter of the world, unknown

to them, the elephants are at least as large as those of India; for

those of Siam and Pegu excel in bulk the elephants of Ceylon; which,

however, are the most courageous and intelligent, according to the

unanimous opinion of travellers.

Having thus collected the different facts relative to the species,

let us now examine minutely the faculties of the individual; his

senses, motion, size, strength, address, sagacity, and intelligence.

The elephant has very small eyes, compared to the enormous size of

his body, but they are bright and lively; and what distinguishes them

from the eyes of all other animals, is their pathetic expression of

sentiment, and an almost rational direction of all their motions.

He turns them slowly and gently towards his master, and when he

speaks, the animal has the appearance of listening to him with an

eye of friendship and attention, and by an expressive glance seems

to penetrate into his wishes, and anticipate his desires. He seems

to reflect, to think, and to deliberate, and never acts till he has

examined and observed several times, without passion or precipitation,

the signs of which he is to obey. Dogs, the eyes of which have much

expression, are animals too lively to allow us to distinguish their

successive sensations; but as the elephant is naturally grave and

sedate, we may read in his eyes, whose motions are slow, the order and

succession of his interior affections.

He has a quick hearing, and this organ, like that of smelling, is

outwardly more marked in the elephant than in any other animal. His

ears are very large, even in proportion to his body; they are flat,

and close to the head, like those of a man; they commonly hang down,

but he raises and moves them with such facility that he makes use of

them to defend his eyes against the inconveniency of dust and flies.

He delights in the sound of musical instruments, and moves in exact

time to the sound of the trumpet and tabor. He has an exquisite sense

of smelling, and he is passionately fond of perfumes of all sorts,

and especially of fragrant flowers; he gathers them one by one, makes

nosegays of them, which he smells with eagerness, and then carries to

his mouth, as if he intended to taste them. Orange flowers are one of

his most exquisite dainties; he strips with his trunk an orange tree

of all its verdure, eating the fruit, the flowers, the leaves, and even

the young branches. He chuses in meadows odoriferous plants, and in the

woods he gives the preference to cocoa, palm, and sago trees, and as

these trees are pithy and tender he not only cats the leaves and fruits

but even the branches, the trunk, and the roots, for when he cannot

break the branches with his trunk, he roots up the trees with his tusks.

In regard to the sense of feeling, it centres in his trunk; but it is

as delicate and as distinct in that as in the human hand. This trunk,

composed of membranes, nerves, and muscles, is, at the same time, a

member capable of motion, and an organ of sentiment. The animal can

not only move and bend it, but he can shorten, lengthen, and turn it

all ways. The extremity of the trunk is terminated by a protuberance,

which projects on the upper part like a finger, by which the elephant

does the same as we do with our fingers; he picks up from the ground

the smallest pieces of money; he gathers herbs and flowers, chusing

them one after another; he unties knots, opens and shuts doors, by

turning the keys or slipping the bolts: he learns to draw regular

characters with an instrument as small as a pen. We cannot even deny

that this hand of the elephant has several advantages over ours: it is

equally flexible and as dexterous in feeling or laying hold of objects.

These operations are made by means of that sort of finger, seated at

the superior part of the border, which surrounds the extremity of the

trunk, in the middle of which there is a concavity, in the form of a

cup, and at the bottom of it are the two apertures, which convey the

sense of smelling and respiration. The elephant, consequently, unites

in his trunk both the senses of feeling and smelling; and he may join

the power of his lungs to the action of his hand, either drawing

liquids by suction, or lifting up very heavy burdens, by applying the

extremity of his trunk, and making within an empty place by respiration.

Thus the delicacy of feeling, exquisiteness of smelling, facility

of motion, and the power of suction, are united in the trunk of the

elephant. Of all the instruments which Nature has so liberally bestowed

on her favourite productions, the trunk of the elephant is, perhaps,

the most complete and the most admirable; it is not only an organic

instrument, but a triple sense, whose united functions are, at the

same time, the cause, and produce the effect of that intelligence,

and of those peculiar faculties which distinguish the elephant, and

raise him above all other quadrupeds. He is less subject than other

animals to errors of sight, because he rectifies them quickly by the

sense of feeling; and making use of his trunk as a long arm to feel

distant bodies, he acquires, like men, distinct ideas of distance. But

other animals (except the monkey, and some others, who have the fore

feet similar to arms and hands) cannot acquire the same ideas without

running over that space with their bodies. Feeling is, of all the

senses, that which has the most relation to knowledge. The delicacy of

feeling gives the idea of the substance of the bodies; the flexibility

of the trunk gives the idea of their exterior form; the power of

suction, that of their weight; smelling, that of their qualities;

and its length, that of their distance. They, therefore, with the

same member, and by one simultaneous act, feel, perceive, and judge

of divers things at once. His multiplied sensations are equivalent

to reflection; and though this animal is, like others, incapable of

thinking, as his sensations are combined in the same organ, are coeval

and undivided, it is not surprising that he has ideas of his own, and

that he acquires in a little time those we inculcate to him. His

remembrance should be more perfect than that of any other animal, for

memory only depends chiefly on the circumstances of action; and no

sensation, however lively, can leave a lasting impression, when single

and abstractedly taken; but several combined sensations leave deep

impressions, so that if the elephant cannot recall an idea by feeling

alone, the sensations of smelling and suction, which act at the same

time, help him in recalling them to remembrance. With us the best

method to improve the memory is to make use successively of all our

senses to consider an object; and it is for want of that combined use

of the senses that man forgets more things than he can recollect.

Although the elephant has a more retentive memory, and more

intelligence than any other animal, his brain is proportionally smaller

than most of them, which I only mention as a proof that the brain is

not the seat of sentiment, the _sensorium commune_, which resides, on

the contrary, in the nerves of the senses, and in the membranes of the

head, which are so numerously distributed on the trunk of the elephant,

as to be equal to all those on the rest of the body. It is, therefore,

by virtue of this singular combination of faculties in the trunk, that

this animal is superior to all others in intelligence, notwithstanding

his enormous size, and the disproportion of his form; for the elephant

is, at the same time, a miracle of intelligence, and a monster of

matter. His body is very thick, without any suppleness; his neck short

and stiff, his head small and deformed, his ears and nose exceedingly

large; his eyes, mouth, genital members, and tail, very small in

proportion; his legs are like massive pillars, straight and stiff; his

feet so short and small, that they are hardly perceptible, and his skin

hard, thick, and callous; all these deformities are more remarkable,

from being exhibited on a large scale, and most of them being peculiar

to himself alone, no other animal having either the head, feet, nose,

ears, or tusks, placed like those of the elephant.

From this singular conformation he suffers several inconveniences; he

can scarcely move his head, or turn back without making a circuit. The

hunters who attack him behind, or on the flanks, avoid the effects of

his vengeance by circular motions, and they have sufficient time to

strike him again whilst he is turning against them. His legs, which

are not so stiff as his neck and body, yet bend very slowly, and

with difficulty; their articulation with the thighs is very strong.

His knee is situated like that of a man, and his feet as low; but his

foot has no strength nor elastic power, and the knee is hard, without

suppleness; yet whilst the elephant is in his youth and vigour, he

bends it to lay down, to let himself be loaded, or to help his leaders

to mount him; but when he is old or infirm, this motion becomes so

difficult that he sleeps standing; and, if he is compelled to lay

down, the use of engines are necessary to raise him. His tusks, which

become of an enormous weight when he grows old, not being seated in

a vertical position, as the horns of other animals, form two long

levers, and being in an almost horizontal direction, fatigue his head

prodigiously, and draw it downwards, so that the animal is sometimes

obliged to make holes in the wall of his lodge to support them, and

ease himself of their weight. He has the disadvantage of having the

organ of smelling far distant from that of tasting; and likewise the

inconvenience of not being able to seize any thing on the ground with

his mouth, because his neck is too short to let his head reach the

earth; he is forced, therefore, to take his food, and even his drink

with his nose; and to carry it not only to the entrance of his mouth,

but to his very throat; and when his trunk is full of water, he thrusts

the extremity of it to the very root of the tongue, probably to push

back the epiglottis, and to prevent the liquor which passes through

with impetuosity, from entering into the larynx; for he thrusts out the

water by the strength of the same air which he had employed to suck it

up, and it goes out of the trunk with noise, and enters into the throat

with precipitation. Neither the tongue, the mouth, nor the lips, are of

any service to him, as to other animals, in sucking or lapping their

drink. From this description seems to result the singular consequence,

that the young elephant must suck with his nose, and afterwards carry

the milk to his throat. Yet the ancients have written that he sucks

with the mouth, and not with the trunk; but they were not, probably,

witnesses of the fact, and have founded their opinion on the analogy

with all other animals. If the young elephant had once been used to

suck with his mouth, how could he lose that habit the remainder of

his life? Why does he never use the mouth to take water within his

reach? Why does he constantly employ two actions, where one would be

sufficient? Why does he never take any thing with his mouth, but what

is thrown in when it is open? It appears probable, therefore, that the

young elephant sucks with his trunk only. This presumption is not only

proved by the subsequent facts, but is also founded on a better analogy

than that which decided the opinion of the ancients. We have said, that

animals in general, at the instant they are brought forth, can have

no indication of the food they want, from any other sense but that of

smelling: the ear is certainly of no use in that respect; neither is

the eye, since the eyes of most animals are not open when they begin

to suck: feeling can give but a vague idea of all the parts of the

mother's body, or rather indicates nothing relative to the appetite.

Smelling alone directs him: it is not only a sort of taste, but a

species of fore-taste, which precedes, accompanies, and determines the

other. The elephant, like other animals, perceives by this fore-taste

the presence of his food; and as the seat of smelling is united with

the power of suction at the extremity of his trunk, he applies it to

the teats, sucks the milk, and conveys it afterwards to his mouth to

satisfy his appetite. Besides, the two paps being seated on the breast,

like those of women, and the teats being very small in proportion to

the size of the mouth of the young elephant, who cannot bend his neck,

he could not reach the teat of his mother with his mouth, unless she

laid upon her back, or on her side, and even in that situation he would

find it very difficult to suck her, on account of the largeness of the

mouth, and the smallness of the nipples. The margin of the trunk, which

the elephant contracts as much as he pleases, is easily proportioned

to the nipple, and the young elephant may suck his mother with it,

either when she stands, or lies on her side. Thus, every thing agrees

to confute the opinion of the ancients on this subject, for none of

them, nor even any of the moderns, pretend to have seen the elephant

sucking, and I think, I may affirm, that whenever that observation is

made, it will appear, that he does not suck with his mouth, but with

his trunk. I likewise believe, that the ancients have been mistaken in

telling us, that elephants couple like other quadrupeds, the position

of the parts seeming to make it almost impossible. The female has not,

like other quadrupeds, the orifice of the vagina near the anus, being

near three feet distance from it, and seated almost in the middle of

the belly. Besides, naturalists and travellers agree that the male

elephant has not the genital member longer than a horse, and therefore

it is impossible for them to copulate like other quadrupeds, and that

the female must necessarily lie on her back, and which De Feynes and

Tavernier positively affirm must be the fact, though I should not pay

much attention to their testimony were it not in conformity with the

physical conformation; they require, therefore, for this operation,

more time and conveniences, than other animals; and it is, perhaps, for

this reason they never couple, but when at full liberty. The female

must not only consent, but even place herself in an indecent situation,

to provoke the male, which probably, she never assumes but when she

thinks herself without witnesses. Is not modesty then a physical

virtue of which animals are susceptible? It is at least like softness,

moderation, temperance, a general attribute of the female sex.

Thus the elephant neither sucks, eats, or drinks, like other

quadrupeds. The sound of his voice is also very singular. If we believe

the ancients, he has, as it were, two voices: the one issuing from the

trunk, which is rough, and from the length of the passage is somewhat

like that of a trumpet; and the other coming from his mouth, which is

interrupted by short pauses and hard sighs. This fact, advanced by

Aristotle and afterwards repeated by naturalists and some travellers,

is at least doubtful. M. de Bussy affirms positively, that the elephant

does not utter any sounds through the trunk; yet as in shutting the

mouth close, man can make a sound through the nose, it is possible

that the elephant, with so long a nose may issue sounds in the same

manner. From wherever it proceeds, the cry of the elephant is heard at

more than a league's distance; and yet, it is not so terrifying as the

roaring of the lion or the tiger.

The elephant is yet more singular in the conformation of his feet,

and the texture of his skin. He is not clothed with hair like other

quadrupeds, but his skin is perfectly bare; some bristles issue out in

different parts, they are thinly scattered on the body, but more thick

on the eye-lids, on the back part of the head, within the ears, the

thighs, and the legs. The epidermis has two sorts of wrinkles, which

are hard and callous, some sinking, others prominent, which gives a

divided appearance, like the bark of an old oak. In man, and in other

animals, the epidermis sticks every where close to the skin, but in

the elephant, it is only fastened by some points, like two quilted

stuffs one above the other. This epidermis is naturally dry, and soon

acquires three or four lines of thickness, by the divers crusts, which

are regenerated one above the other, drying up. It is this thickness of

the epidermis which produces the _elephantiasis_, or dry leprosy, to

which man, whose skin is bare like that of the elephant, is sometimes

subject. This distemper is very common to elephants, and to prevent it

the Indians rub them often with oil, to preserve the skin clean and

supple. It is very tender wherever it is not callous; in the fissures,

and other places, where it is neither dry nor hard, the elephant is

so sensible of the sting of the flies, that he not only employs his

natural motions, but even the resources of his intelligence to get

rid of them. He makes use of his tail, ears, and trunk, to strike

them; he contracts his skin and squeezes them to death betwixt his

wrinkles; he takes branches of trees, boughs, and handfuls of straw,

to drive them away, and when all this does not answer the purpose, he

gathers dust with his trunk, and covers with it all the tender parts

of his body. He often covers himself with dust several times in a day,

particularly after bathing. The use of water is almost as necessary

to these animals as air. When at liberty they seldom leave the banks

of rivers, but often go into them, and remain for hours together up

to the belly. In India, where they are treated most suitable to their

nature and constitution, they wash them with care, and give them all

the necessary time and opportunity to wash themselves. They clean their

skins by rubbing it with pumice-stones, and afterwards they pour on

them perfumed oil, and paint them with various colours.

The conformation of the elephant's feet and legs is also different

from that of other animals; the fore legs seem to be higher than those

behind, yet the hind legs are the longest; they are not bent in two

places, like the hind legs of a horse, or an ox, the thigh-bones of

which seem to be of the same piece with the buttock, the knee very near

the belly, and the bones of the foot so high and so long that they seem

to make a great part of the leg; in the elephant, on the contrary, the

foot is very short, and rests on the ground; he has the knee like man,

in the middle of the leg; his short foot is divided into five toes,

which are all covered with a skin, so as not to appear outwardly; we

are only able to perceive a kind of nails, the number of which varies,

though that of the toes is constant, for he has always five toes to

each foot, and commonly five nails, but sometimes he has no more than

four, or even three, and in this case they do not correspond exactly

with the extremities of the toes. However, this variety, which has

only been observed in young elephants transported to Europe, seems

to be merely accidental, and depends, probably on the treatment the

elephant has received in his youth. The sole of the feet is covered

with a skin, as hard as the hoof, which projects all round; the nails

are formed of the same substance.

The ears of the elephant are very long; he makes use of them as a fan,

and moves them as he pleases: his tail is not longer than his ears,

being commonly near three feet in length; it is rather thin, sharp,

and garnished at the extremity with a tuft of large black, shining,

and solid bristles; these bristles are as big and as strong as wire,

and a man cannot break them by pulling with his hands, though they

are elastic and pliant. This tuft of hair is an ornament which the

negro women are particularly partial to, from superstitious notions.

An elephant's tail is sometimes sold for two or three slaves, and

the negroes often hazard their lives to cut and snatch it from the

living animal. Besides this tuft at the extremity, the tail is covered

throughout with hard bristles, bigger than those of a wild boar; some

are also found on the convex part of the trunk, and on the eye-brows,

where they sometimes are a foot in length. The hairs on the eye-lids

are peculiar to men, monkeys, and elephants.

The climate, food, and condition, have great influence on the growth

and size of the elephant. In general those who are taken young, and

early lose their liberty, never come to their full growth. The biggest

elephants of India, and the eastern coasts of Africa, are fourteen

feet high; the smallest, which are found in Senegal, and in the other

western parts of Africa, are not above ten or eleven feet; and those

which are brought young into Europe acquire not that height. That which

was in the menagerie of Versailles, which came from Congo, was but

seven feet and a half high, in his seventeenth year. During thirteen

years that he lived in France he did not grow above a foot, so that

at the age of four, when he was sent he was only six feet and a half

high, and as the growth gradually diminishes as animals advance in

years, if he had lived thirty years, which is the ordinary term of

their full growth, he would not have been more than eight feet high.

Thus a domestic state reduces the growth of the animal at least one

third, not only in height but in all other dimensions. The length of

the body, measured from the eye to the tail, is very near equal to

his height; an elephant of the Indies, therefore, of fourteen feet

high, is seven times bigger and heavier than was the elephant of

Versailles. In comparing the growth of this animal with that of man

we shall find, that an infant, being commonly thirty-one inches, that

is half his height when he is two years old, and coming to his full

growth at twenty, the elephant, who increases in height and bulk to his

thirtieth year, should come to half his height in three years. In the

same manner, if we judge of the enormity of the bulk of the elephant,

it will be found, that the volume of a man's body being supposed to be

two cubic feet and a half, the body of an elephant of fourteen feet in

length, allowing him only three feet in thickness, and of a middling

breadth, would be fifty times as big, and, consequently, an elephant

ought to weigh as much as fifty men.

"I have seen (says father Vincent Marie) some elephants who were

fourteen or fifteen feet high, long and thick in proportion. The male

is always larger than the female. The price of these animals increases

in proportion to their size, which is measured from the eye to the

extremity of the back, and after exceeding certain dimensions, the

price increases like that of precious stones."

"The elephants of Guinea (says Bosman) are ten, twelve, or thirteen

feet in height, and yet they are incomparably smaller than those of the

East Indies, since those who have written the history of that country,

give to those more cubits in height, than the others have feet."

"I have seen elephants thirteen feet high, (says Edward Terry) and I

have met with many, who affirmed they have seen elephants fifteen feet

high[AG]."

[Footnote AG: These authors probably referred to different measures,

the first meaning Roman, the second Rhenish, and the last English feet.]

From these, and many other attestations, we may conclude, that the most

common size of the elephant is from ten to eleven feet; that those of

thirteen or fourteen feet are very scarce, and that the smallest are

at least nine feet high when they come to their full growth in a state

of liberty. These enormous lumps of matter, as we have observed, move

with much celerity; they are supported by four members, which are more

like pillars, or massive columns, than legs, and are from fifteen to

eighteen inches in diameter, and five or six feet in height; their

legs are therefore twice as long as those of a man; thus, though the

elephant took but one step to a man's two, he would overtake him in

running. The common pace of the elephant is not swifter than that of

the horse; but when he is pressed, he goes a sort of amble, equivalent

for quickness to a gallop. He executes with speed, and even with ease,

all direct motion; but he has no facility for oblique or retrograde

motions. It is commonly in narrow and deep roads, where he can hardly

turn, that the negroes attack him, and cut off his tail, which they

value as much as the whole animal. He cannot go down a steep declivity

without much difficulty, he is then obliged to bend the hind legs,

in order to keep the fore part of his body on a level with the hind,

and that his own weight may not throw him down. He swims well, though

the form of his legs and feet seem to indicate the contrary; but as

the capacity of his breast and belly is very large, as the volume of

the lungs and intestines is enormous, and as those parts are full of

air, or matter lighter than water, he sinks less deep than any other

animal; he finds less resistance to overcome, and, consequently, can

swim faster in making less efforts with his limbs. Thus, he is very

useful for crossing rivers; besides two field-pieces, each of them

four-pounders, with which he is loaded on these occasions, he carries

heavy baggage, and several persons holding him by the ears and tail.

When thus loaded, he swims deep in the water, and nothing is seen but

his trunk, which he keeps erect to enable him to breathe.

Though the elephant commonly feeds on herbs and young branches, and

requires prodigious quantities of these aliments, to extract from them

the nutrition necessary to such a body, yet he has not many stomachs,

like most animals who feed on the same substances. He has but one

stomach, does not ruminate, and is formed more like the horse than

the ox, or other ruminating animals. The want of a paunch is supplied

by the bigness and length of his intestines, and especially of the

colon, which is two or three feet in diameter, and fifteen or twenty

in length. The stomach is much smaller than the colon, being but four

feet, at the most, in length, and a foot and a half in diameter. To

fill such a capaciousness, the animal must eat almost continually,

especially when he has no food more substantial than herbage; therefore

the wild elephants are almost always employed in grubbing up trees,

gathering herbs, or breaking young boughs; and those that are tame,

though fed with great quantities of rice, pluck up herbs whenever

they find an opportunity. However great the appetite of the elephant,

he eats with moderation, and his taste for cleanliness gets the better

of his wants. His dexterity in parting, with his trunk, the good

leaves from the bad, and the care he takes to shake off the sand or

insects, are convincing marks of his delicacy. He is very fond of

wine, spirituous liquors, brandy, and arrack. He is prevailed upon to

exert his greatest efforts, and to undertake the most arduous task, by

shewing him a vessel full of these liquors, and promising it to him as

the reward of his labours. He seems also to like the smoke of tobacco,

but it stupifies and intoxicates him: he has a natural aversion to bad

smells, and such an antipathy for hogs, that the cry of that animal

disorders and puts him to flight.

To give a complete idea of the nature and intelligence of this singular

animal, I shall insert here some particulars communicated to me by the

Marquis de Montmirail, President of the Royal Academy of Sciences,

who has taken the trouble to translate from some Italian and German

books, which were not known to me, whatever relates to the history of

the animal creation. His taste for arts and sciences, his zeal for

the advancement of them, his exquisite judgment, and a very extensive

knowledge of all the parts of Natural History, entitle him to the

greatest respect, and it is with pleasure and gratitude I refer to the

information he has given me, and which I shall have frequent occasion

to refer to in the subsequent part of this work:--"They make use of

the elephant to carry artillery over mountains; and it is then that he

gives the greatest proofs of his intelligence: when the oxen, yoked

together, endeavour to draw a piece of artillery up a mountain, the

elephant pushes the breech of the cannon with his forehead, and at

every effort he supports the carriage with his knee, which he places

against the wheel. He seems as if he understood what is said to him.

When his leader employs him in some hard labour, he explains what is

his work, and the reasons which ought to engage him to obey. If the

elephant shews any repugnance to comply, the _cornack_, so his leader

is called, promises to give him arrack, or some other thing that he

likes; then the animal agrees to every thing proposed; but it is

dangerous to break a promise with him, as many cornacks have fallen

victims by such conduct. An instance of this happened at Dekan, which

deserves to be recorded; and which, however incredible it may appear,

is perfectly true. An elephant, in revenge, killed his cornack; the

man's wife being witness of this dreadful catastrophe, took her two

children and threw them to the feet of the still enraged animal,

saying, _Since thou hast killed my husband, take also my life and that

of my children_. The elephant stopped short, grew calm, and, as if

moved with regret and compassion, took with his trunk the biggest of

the two children, placed him on his neck, adopted him for his cornack,

and would never suffer any other to mount him afterwards.

"If the elephant be vindictive he is no less grateful. A soldier at

Pondicherry, who commonly gave one of these animals a certain measure

of arrack every time he received his pay, having one day drank more

than common, and seeing himself pursued by the guard, who wanted to

conduct him to prison, took refuge under the elephant, and there fell

asleep. In vain did the guard attempt to draw him out from this asylum,

the elephant firmly defending him with his trunk. The next day, when

the soldier became sober, he was struck with terror to find himself

under an animal of such enormous bulk. The elephant, who no doubt

perceived his consternation, caressed him with his trunk, and made him

understand that he might depart freely.

"The elephant sometimes falls into a sort of phrenzy, which deprives

him of his tractability, and makes him so formidable that it is

frequently thought necessary to kill him, though they generally tie

him with heavy chains, in hopes that he will come to himself; but when

in his natural state the most acute pains cannot provoke him to do any

harm to those who have not offended him. An elephant, made furious by

the wounds he had received in the battle of Hambour, ran about the

field crying out in the most hideous manner. A soldier, notwithstanding

the warning of his companions, was unable to fly, perhaps from being

wounded; the elephant coming up to him appeared afraid of trampling

him under his feet, took him up with his trunk, placed him gently on

one side, and continued his march." These particulars were given to

the Marquis Montmirail by M. de Bussy, who lived ten years in India,

and served the state with reputation. He had several elephants in his

service; he mounted them often, saw them every day, and had frequent

opportunities of observing many others.

The gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences have also communicated to us

the following facts, which they learned from those who governed the

elephant at Versailles, and which deserve to be mentioned here. "The

elephant seemed to discern when any body made a fool of him, and he

remembered the affront to be revenged the first opportunity. A man

deceived him by feigning to throw something into his mouth, upon which

the animal gave him such a blow with his trunk as broke two of his

ribs; having knocked him down, he trampled him under his feet, and

broke one of his legs, and then kneeling down, he tried to thrust his

tusks into the man's belly, which, however, went into the ground on

both sides of his thigh, without hurting him. He bruised another man,

by squeezing him against the wall, for a little mockery. A painter was

desirous to draw him in an unusual attitude, with his trunk erect and

his mouth open; the servant of the painter, to make him remain in that

attitude, threw fruits into his mouth, but often deceived him, which

provoked his indignation, and, as if he knew the painter was the cause

of his being thus insulted, without taking any notice of the servant,

he threw such a quantity of water with his trunk upon the paper, the

master was drawing on, as totally to spoil the design. The elephant

made less use of his strength than of his address, which was such that

he untied with great facility a double leather string which fastened

his leg, and as this buckle had a small string twisted around it with

several knots, he untied them all without breaking either the strings

or the strap. One night, having thus disentangled himself from his

leather strings, he dexterously broke open the door of his lodge, so

that his keeper was not awakened by the noise; he went from thence

into several courts of the menagerie, breaking open the doors that

were shut, and pulling down the stone work when the passage was too

narrow for him to pass; by this means he got into the lodges of other

animals, terrifying them to that degree, that they hid themselves

in the remotest parts of the inclosures." In fine, to omit nothing

that may contribute to make all the natural and acquired faculties of

this animal so superior to all others, perfectly known, we shall add

some facts, extracted from the most credible authors. "The elephant,

even when wild (says Father Vincent Marie), has his virtues. He is

generous and temperate; and when tamed he is esteemed for gentleness

and fidelity to his master, and friendship for his governors. If

destined to the immediate services of princes he knows his fortune,

and preserves a gravity agreeable to the dignity of his employ. If, on

the contrary, he is employed in mean labours, he evidently grieves and

laments his being thus debased. In war he is impetuous and proud at

the first onset; he is equally so when surrounded by hunters, but he

loses courage when he is conquered. He fights with his tusks, and fears

nothing so much as losing his trunk, which, by its consistence, is

easily cut off. He is naturally mild, never attacks any person, unless

he has been offended; he seems to delight in company, is particularly

fond of children, caresses them, and seems to be sensible that they are

harmless and innocent."

"The elephant, (says F. Pyrard) is an animal of so much judgment and

knowledge, that one should think him endowed with rational faculties;

besides being of infinite service to man. If wanted to be ridden,

he is so supple, and obedient, that he conforms to the conveniency

and quality of the person he serves: he bends his knees, and helps

his leader to mount him with his trunk. He is so tractable, that he

does whatever he is required, provided he is treated with gentleness.

He performs all that he is commanded, and caresses those whom he is

directed to use with civility."

"By giving the elephants, (says the Dutch travellers) whatever can

please them, they are as easily tamed and rendered as submissive as

men. It may be said they want no other faculty, but that of speech.

They are proud and ambitious, but they remember good offices, and are

so grateful for them, that they never fail to incline their head as a

mark of respect, when they pass before a house where they have been

well used. They may be conducted at the command of a child, but they

love to be praised and cherished. No person can affront, or injure them

without their notice; and those who have treated them with disrespect,

may think themselves happy if they escape without being sprinkled with

the water from their trunks, or thrown into the dirt."

"The elephants, (says Father Philip) come very near the human species

in judgment and reasoning. Monkeys are stupid brute animals compared

to them. The elephants are so modest, that they cannot bear being

seen when they couple; and if by chance, any person were to see this

operation they would infallibly be revenged of them. They salute by

bending the knees, and inclining their head; and when their master

shews his intention to mount them, they so dexterously present to him

their foot, that he may use it as a step. When a wild elephant is

taken, and his feet are tied, one of the hunters comes near, salutes,

makes an apology for having tied him, and protests that his intention

is not to do him any harm; tells him that in his savage state he often

wanted food, but now he will be treated with tenderness, and which

he promises to do constantly. The hunter has no sooner finished this

soothing discourse, than the elephant follows him as gently as a lamb.

We must not, however, conclude from this, that the elephant understands

languages, but only having a particular discerning faculty, he knows

the motions of esteem from contempt, friendship from hatred, and all

other sentiments of man towards him, for which cause he is more easily

tamed by reasoning than by blows. He throws stones to a great distance,

and very straight with his trunk; which he also makes use of to pour

water over his body when bathing."

"Of five elephants, (says Tavernier) which the hunters had taken, three

escaped, although their bodies and legs were fastened with chains and

ropes. These men told us the following surprising circumstance, if it

can be believed, that when an elephant has been caught, and escaped the

snare, he becomes very mistrustful and breaks off a large branch with

his trunk, with which he sounds the ground before he puts his foot upon

it, to discover if there are any holes, by which he may be caught a

second time; for this reason the hunters, who related this singularity,

despaired of catching again the three elephants who had escaped. The

other two which they had caught, was each of them placed betwixt two

tame elephants, and around them were six men, holding torches, who

spoke to the animals, and presented them something to eat, saying, in

their language, 'take this and eat it.' What they gave them consisted

of small bundles of hay, bits of black sugar, and rice boiled in water,

with pepper. When the wild elephant refused to do what he was ordered,

the men commanded the tame elephants to beat him, which they did

immediately; one striking his forehead, and when he seemed to aim at a

revenge, the other struck him on the side, so that the poor creature

soon perceived he had nothing to do, but to obey."

"I have several times observed, (says Edward Terry) that the elephant

does many things which seemed to be more the result of a rational than

an instinctive faculty. He does whatever his master commands him. If

he wishes him to frighten any body, he advances towards him with the

same fury as if he would tear him to pieces, and when near he stops

short, without doing him any harm. If the master is inclined to affront

another, he speaks to the elephant, who takes up dirty water with his

trunk, and throws it over the person pointed out to him. His trunk is

made of a cartilage, hangs betwixt his tusks, and by some called his

hand, because on many occasions it is as serviceable to him as the hand

is to men. The Mogul keeps elephants for the execution of criminals

condemned to death. If their leader bids them dispatch the wretched

creatures quickly, they tear them to pieces in a moment with their

feet; but if commanded to make the criminals languish, they break their

bones one after another, and make them suffer torments as cruel as

those of the wheel."

We might quote several other facts equally curious and interesting,

but we should exceed the limits of this work; we should not have

even entered into so many particulars, if the elephant (_fig. 133._)

were not, of all animals, the first in every respect, and that which

consequently deserves most attention.

We have said nothing respecting the production of his ivory because M.

Daubenton has made several useful observations upon the nature and

quality of it, but he has at the same time assigned to the elephant

the tusks, and prodigious bones attributed to the mammoth. I confess

I was long doubtful on this subject; I had several times considered

those enormous bones, and compared them with the skeleton of an almost

adult elephant preserved in the king's cabinet, and before writing the

history of those animals, I could not persuade myself that elephants

six or seven times bigger than the one whose skeleton I had seen,

could exist; more especially, as the large bones had not the same

proportions with the corresponding ones of the elephant, I thought with

the generality of naturalists that these enormous bones had belonged

to an animal much larger, whose species was lost or annihilated. But

it is certain, as we have mentioned before, that some elephants exist

who are fourteen feet high, that is, six or seven times bigger (for

the bulk is in proportion to the cube in height) than the elephant,

of whose skeleton we have spoken, and which was not more than seven

feet and a half in height. It is also certain, for the observations of

M. Daubenton, that age changes the proportion of the bones and when

the animal is adult, they grow considerably thicker, though they are

come to their full height: in fine, it is certain, from the relations

of travellers, that of some elephants, the tusks weigh more than

120lbs.[AH] From these observations, we cannot doubt that those tusks

and bones we have already noticed for their prodigious size, actually

belonged to the elephant. Sir Hans Sloane was of that opinion, but

he did not prove it. M. Gmelin said it still more affirmatively, and

gave on this subject several curious facts[AI]; but M. Daubenton is

the first who has proved them unquestionably by exact measures and

comparisons, and reasons founded on the great knowledge that he has

acquired in the Science of Anatomy.

[Footnote AH: Mr. Eden says, that several elephant's tusks which he

measured, were no less than nine feet long, and as big as a man's thigh

in circumference, some of them weighing more than nine pounds; and that

he saw a head in the possession of a Mr. Jude, which had been brought

from Guinea by some English ships, of which the mere bones, without the

tusks, weighed upwards of 200lbs. and it was supposed that when the

head was entire it could not weigh less than 500lbs. Lopes affirms he

met with several tusks that weighed 200lbs. _Hist. Gen. des Voyages._

This magnitude of the tusks is also confirmed by Drake, Holbe, and the

Dutch travellers.]

[Footnote AI: The Czar, Peter, being curious in Natural History, issued

orders in the year 1722, that wherever any bones of the mammoth should

be found, search should be made after the remainder, and the whole of

them sent to Petersburg, and which orders were made public in all the

towns of Siberia. In consequence of this several persons applied to the

Woywode of Jakutzk to be sent off to two different places, where they

affirmed they had seen these bones; their demands were complied with,

and many of them returned with heads and various bones, which were

transmitted to Petersburg, and placed in the imperial cabinet; but it

will be found upon examination that all the bones placed there, under

the denomination of the Mammoth bones, are perfectly similar with the

elephant's. And as to their being found under the earth and in Siberia,

it may fairly be presumed that in the great revolutions which have

happened to the earth, a great number of elephants might be driven from

their native climates; many have been destroyed by the inundations, and

those who wandered so far into the North must necessarily have perished

from the rigours of the climate. _Voyage a Kamtschatka par M. Gmelin._]