The Litchfield County post., 1827-04-05
From the American QtarferIy Rerte,c.
 WAR ELEPHANTS.

WAR ELEPHANT C.
 The number of elephants employed in the armies of the Mongul sovereigns ap- near almost incredible, when we recol'ect the quantity of food necessary for the sup port of each individual. The Grand Khan Kublai is said to have possessed hrs thou sand. and Capt. Jenkius, who was at Agra in 16O7, and delivered letter from King James to the Emperor Jehanglr, relates that the Emperor had ''ttcetre thousand ei- ephants, about 5000 with teeth, the rest, females aud young ones." The Emperor Akbar. the predecessor of Jehangir, allot- ted two hundred elephants to every tomda or ten thousand of his cavalry.
 These huge and powerful animals were trained to the dreadful business of war, and seemed to acquire pleasure in aiding the wishes of their masters. They were cover ed with armor formed of plates of steel joined together by chains, so as especially to defend the trunk, head, and anterior parts of the body. On the backs ot these animals wooden towers filled with archcrs, were secured, who poured down their mis- siles upon the infantry, being almost out Of danger themselves, as the elephants were protected by their dense skins and super added armor, but by their formidable trunks, yielded with death dealing force, against the assa;lants.
 Can any thing be conceived more dread full than field of battle covered by scvcr- al hundred thousand combatants armed solely with swords, spears, axes, and mis- sile weapons, while a host of elephants are rushing upon their ranks? At their irresist- ible onset, thousands are dashed to the earth, and trampled under foot--a blow with the trunk sends the stunted .horsemen to the earth-a thrust with the tusks hurls tie terrified steed among his comrades, while the huge beast, urging forward his c. normous weight, strews the ground with horrible carnage. Still he is under the governance ofthe rider who sits upon his neck, and his work of destruction is sys- tematically pursued. But, his trunk is thrown aloft, his ears erected, his mouth ex- banded, and protracted, shrill and pierc- ing scream uttered the spear of horse- man has entered his neck-frantic with pain, he seizes his conductor with his trunk and filings him into the air: he breaks from sAAS Aohno "HN PAuHSCo OA"oiuS 1OS0lulCoo whether friends or foes are destroyed, and continues his devastating course, until ex- hausted by wounds and agony he sinks at last among the slaughtered, destroying in his fall those who may have been safely conveyed through the previous horrors in the tower upon his back ! To render the elephants more efficient in fight, large sa- bres, daggers, and other offensive weapons were fastened to their tusks, and every care was.takcn' to inspire them with fury a. gainst their opposers.
 Winter in Siberia.-Mr. Ledyard na- tive of Connecticut, who traversed some of the dreary regions of Russia in letter to Dr. Ledyard of Long Islands wrote as fol- lows; .,
 s'You have no idea of the excessive cold of the region of Siberia. By experiments that I made at Yakusky, found that on the l0th of Nov. the Mercury in my thermom- eter froze. InsDec. found by repeated observation, that two ounces of quicksilver openly exposed, froze hard in 15 minutes I observed that in these severe frosts, the air was condensed, as it is with you in { thick fog--the atmosphere is frozen--res-