Sharp County record., 1878-09-06
Reliable Facts About Elephants

Sonderson @ deals at considerable length |
with the subject of elephants. Many OF
his statements about the Indian elePnah'
will be found to differ from the Opinions
commonly held, and also from the m
teresting descriptions of the amman .
published by Sir Emerson Iennenl, |
This book, MIR. Sanderson observes, mas
removed some of the grossest miSapPre-
bensions regarding the elephant, but
Mit is full of the errors which are un-
avoidable when man writes on SUD-
iect with which he has no practical ac-
ouaintance :" and in many places theory
and fancy are said to be substituted lor
fact. Thus, for instance, Sir Emerson
Tennent tells story of anelephant that
leaned over a barricade fifteen feet hllgh'
whereas the animal can not take It's four
feet off the ground at the same moment
and can neither canter, gallop' nor trGt,
And, according to Mr.. Sanderson' tne
elephant is in many respects stupid
animal Its chief virtues, he says, are
obedience, gentlenesS, and panence'
But this gentleness may surely be re-
garded, on the writer's own showing as
q sign of intelligence. "The most IN
telligent horse,n he writes, "can not De
denended on not to tread on its mas
ter,s toes, and, if terrified, makes no
hesitation in dashing away, even shoulo
he upset any one in so doing; But ele-
phants, even huge tuskers whose neauS aus
are high in the air, and whose keepers
are mere pigmies beside them, are SO
cautions that accidents very seldom oc,
cur through carelessness on their part.
Elephants travel in herds and in strict
Indian file. When calf IS porn tne
herd remains with the mother two days :;
the calf IS then able to travel, and can
cross rivers and climb hills by the as,
sistance of its dam. Elephants are salo
TO swim better than any other land AMI
mails, and Mr.. Sanderson relates that
hatch of seventy-nine which he sent from
Dacca to Barrackpur had the Ganges
and several of its large tidal branches to
cross sin the longest swim they were
six hours without touching the bottom
Alter rest OH oaho- N0'41A' J ~,
pleted the swim in three more. MOI
One was lost" MI Sanderson observes
that the remains of an elephant that hac
died natural death are scarcely eVel
met with. He has never seen sucn re-
mains himself, and never met any one
amongst the Jungle tribes or profession
al elephant hunters who had done SC
eeqq,p eqqpa int rat time when murraln vlS1,rI ites
time; yet not Single pair of ivGTIes
has ever, as far as ! know, been found
in the Mysole jungles dmipg the time
have known them" The writer can
give no explanation of this fact.
How long the wild elephant lives is
uncertain; but Mr.. Sanderson thinks it
attains to at least $50 years. Much ex-
aggeration is current with regard to the
animals height; the largest seen by the
author measured nine feet ten inches at
the shoulder, and yet there have been
stories of Indian elephants measuring
II to 20 feet high. Twice round an ele-
phant's foot is said to be his height, and
generally this measurement is exact
The price of elephants has enormously
increased of late years; but the Govern
ment kheddahs, or elephant catching
establishments, enable our Government
to obtain good animals al a reasonable
cost. An elephant, we are told, which
costs the Government f40 to capture,
would cost at least ESQ in the market.
The difficulties of elephant catching
are, of course, great; and there is moth
ing more interesting in this volume than
the sportsmah's account Of his first sue
cess in Myspt .when, after infinite la
Dor and m1T$s ' e.S res. he succeeded i.,n in
think" Mr. s Palmer writes, "of the
rapture of tfds lie of IT. An hour of
such varied snou, VS. ,,',,,im .'nfiment as eie-
RnnD'5d"I1nS tmo Of uneTSs dmrs Tine ii in towns 1s
Sore disappors deal fr,d \. en under
gone by myseltapr ElAny tedious
days and nighths n Y labored against
discouraging ir,i4 and hardships.
But all was for. fri, con the success of
that mYment." IieE as still much
work to BEE be done, for the lasts driven
the the help u tia. es,. .Jefs Is, and 81 wild
aI,tr and frsalehe s.,sas hyenir c.@ lot be "hob-
0Ieo r. "i'"gs5tfw danger.
fes 7netTel & t, ,ing-np process in the
kha 5ah'teveral anu ing incidents oc-
Cured. Active fellows would constant
ly cross it on foot with ropes or other
things that were required, and at first
they were pertinaciously chased by the
wild ones. The men made for the pro-
lection Of the tame elephants, and it
was considered creditable to do this with /.
as little hurry as circumstances would /.
admit. The arena formed center of /
attraction to the on-lookers, as the the
ater of Spanish bull-fghtmay do; and |
the men who showed the greatest cool
ness were loudly applauded. The ele-
phants, however, soon gave up pursuing