Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/135

Rh ELEPHANT 125 where the cold is often considerable. It is exceedingly sure-footed, and shows remarkable sagacity in its choice of a route over mountain districts. It feeds largely on grass, and, according to Tennent, the steins of plantain, stalks of sugar-cane, and the feathery tops of bamboo are irresist- able luxuries, and fruits of every description are eaten vora ciously. The tusks grow to a considerable size in the male, but are wanting in the female ; while in the Ceylon elephant, which by Schlegel, Tennent, and others is con sidered as forming, with the Sumatran elephant, a distinct species (Elephas sumatranus), tusks are also absent in the female, and only exceptionally present in the male. The latter, however, generally has a pair of upper incisors, known as &quot;tushes,&quot; about a foot long, and one or two inches in diameter. The domestication of the Asiatic elephant dates from time immemorial, the earliest records in which it is mentioned showing that it was then chiefly employed in war. Elephants thus figured in the armies of the kings of India, when these monarchs sought to repel the invasions of Alexander the Great and of Tamerlane ; but, however formidable looking, they could not withstand the impetuous dash of well-armed and well-disciplined troops. The sabres of the invaders, aimed at their trunks, rendered the elephants totally unmanageable, and, in the confusion that ensued, they generally did more harm to their own side than to the enemy. Great wooden towers, capable it is said of accommodating 32 soldiers, were usually fastened to the back of the war elephant, and under cover of these the archers aimed their shafts. Since the introduction of fire arms, the elephant has become still less serviceable as an &quot; arm of war,&quot; and is now only employed in dragging heavy artillery, and in the transport of baggage. Elephants have been known to breed in captivity, and were thus bred, according to yElian, in ancient Rome, but ouch an event in India or Ceylon is of the rarest occur rence, although in Ava, probably owing to the fact that the females are allowed to roam in the woods in a semi-wild state, such births are common. Domesticated individual?, in India and Ceylon, have thus been all reclaimed from the wild state, and the gaps caused by death can only be filled by fresh captures. Single wild males are often caught through the agency of tame females acting as decoys. When it is sought to capture whole herds, the Hindus and Singalese construct, in the heart of the forest, a vast inclosure known as a keddali or curmi, formed of the trunks and branches of trees, with an opening on one side, into which the herd is driven. This, however, can only be accomplished by thousands of beaters making an extensive circuit round the haunts of the elephants, and gradually narrowing the circle until a comparatively limited area is completely inclosed. Around this, in order to diminish the chances of escape, fires are kindled at frequent intervals, and at last the beaters, with a general rush, and carrying lighted torches, close in upon the elephants, and the affrighted creatures, seeing no way clear except in the direction of the inclosure, make for it with all speed, and enter the corral. Once they are inside, the entrance is barricaded, and the entrapped elephants rush wildly about in the vain hope of finding a means of escape. When completely exhausted, they seek the centre of the inclosure, and there await motionless the progress of events. Several tame elephants, each bearing a mahout or keeper, and with a nooser following behind on foot, then enter the corral, and, the tame elephants mingling freely with the wild captives, the latter are put off their guard, and an opportunity is given to the attendant on foot to pass the noose of a rope, the other end of which is attached to the neck of one of the tame elephants, over each of its legs in succession. It is then securely tied to the trunk of a tree. The process of training, in which kindness and severity both play a part, occupies a .comparatively short period, being greatly hastened by the sagacious co-operation of tame individuals. &quot; This assistance,&quot; says Tennent, &quot; can generally be dispensed with after two months, and the captive may then be ridden by the driver alone, and after three or four months he may be intrusted with labour, so far as regards docility.&quot; Males are generally more difficult to tame than females, and &quot;rogues &quot; are the most difficult of all ; the worst, however, may be reclaimed by patience and kindness. In captivity elephants are subject to a great variety of diseases, and their rate of mortality is exceed ingly high, more than half of those employed in the Government service of Ceylon dying after a single year of servitude. Their great strength, sagacity, and docility render them valuable as beasts of burden, and they have been largely employed hi the East in road-making and bridge-building, being used for dragging timber, moving stones, (tc. A powerful elephant is able, it is said, to lift and carry on its tusk a log of wood weighing half a ton. Having regard to the great expense of their maintenance, a working elephant consuming daily about 2 cwts. of green stuff and half a bushel of grain, as well as to their frequent illnesses, their employment is now considered less economi cal than that of horses, and consequently their use as beasts of burden is gradually decreasing. In India, however, the elephant is largely employed in hunting the tiger, the sportsman stalking this feline game from the comparative security of the howdah fixed on its back, while its motions are directed by the mahout seated on its neck. White elephants are merely albinos. They are extremely rare, and great store is set upon them among the in dependent kingdoms of Further India the chief white elephant at the court of Siam ranking next to the queen, and taking precedence of the heir apparent ! Although not an object of worship in those countries, the white elephant is considered a necessary adjunct to royalty, the want of it being regarded as ominous; and in the 16th century a protracted war was waged between Siam, Pegu, and Aracan, in the course of which five kings were killed, for the possession of a particular white elephant. Although now containing only two living forms, the family of elephants ^as in past geological periods much richer in species, fossil remains of no fewer than 14 species of the genus Elephas, and a still larger number belonging to the allied genus Mastodon, having been fo und in the Tertiary formations, to which their remains are confined. The earliest elephants occur in the Miocene deposits of Northern India. In the Pliocene period they make their appearance in Europe, the most noteworthy species of that time being the Elephas antiquits, a southern form, which, surviving the rigours of the Glacial period, continued on into Pleistocene times. During the latter period elephants first appear in America, such forms as the Mammoth (Elephds primigcn /,-) ranging over the northern regions of both hemispheres. The mammoth is undoubtedly the most interesting of all the extinct elephants, owing partly to its having co-existed with man, as is proved by the numerous flint implements and other human utensils found along with its remains, and also to the perfect state of preservation in which these have been found. At the beginning of the present century, a Siberian hunter dis covered an entire mammoth, frozen in a block of ice, and another has since been found, both so perfectly preserved that microscopic sections of some of the tissues were able to be made. These specimens showed that this huge creature, unlike existing elephants, was thickly clad in a covering of long dark hair, mixed at the roots with shorter hair of a woolly texture, that it possessed a mane, and that it had tusks of enormous length curved upwards to fully h hs of a circle. Its remains are found abundantJv in Eng-