The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1879-12-11

Is.
Elephants and Their Ways.
London Spectator.
Elephant-hunting naturally takes a
prominent place in Col. Pollock's pages.
He gives some good stories, which gen
orally relate to the prowess and hair
breadth escapes of his friends and broth
er officers in following the noble game.
He says that the Asiatic elephants
should be divided into two classes-the
Goondas, those that have large tusks,
and the Mucknahs, or those that have
none, or only rudimentary ones; the
two kinds seldom herding together, and
having peculiarities of form alton which
render them very distinct, although
they do not seem to have been noticed
by other writers. The Mucknah is usu-
ally taller and more bulky than the
tusker, and has a longer and very pom
derous trunk. While some animals of
this kind are absolutely without tusks,
most of them have short, sharp ones,
growing downwards like those of the
walrus, with which they can inaict most
formidable blows. Col. Pollock seems
to have been greatly impressed with
the sagacity Of the elephant in its wild
state. particularly that displayed in its
choice of camping and feeding grounds,
which are often surrounded on three
sides by tortuous river impossible to
ordinary mortals, the fourth being pro-
tected by a tangled thicket or quag.
mire. Il have been an hour or more"
he says, ''trying to penetrate into one
OF their Businesses, where twenty or
thirty elephants were congregated with
in space nowhere more than 400 yards
square; but so we'll were all the ap-
proaches protected, that at last, when
did succeed IN crossing over, at the risk
of either being swept away by the force
Of the current, or drowned in its deep
bed, or begged in the quagmires, the
noise we made was sufficient to awaken
the Seven Sleepers, to say nothing of
disturbing a herd of elephants, and
had the pleasure of seeing them make
their exit one way as entered on the
opposite side; and once more tho ami
mails were on the move; such was the
intricate nature of the country it was
useless, indeed impossible, to follow
Them" The Burmese and Assamese, it
seems, laugh at the European for firing
only at the brain of an elephant, as
they aim with consid cradle success at
the point of the shoulder, which is one
of its five vulnerable points. It is as
amusing to find that there is much ras-
cality practiced about the sale of
tame elephant as about that of horse,
the vicious one being drugged and sold
as dociie, the sleepy one frightened up
by the use of ginger or brandy, and the
useless brute, that never carries flesh,
fed up for the time with massalahs and
sugar cane. The person accustomed to
elephants is perfectly able to judge of
their state Of mind by the peculiar
noises they utter; the sort of whistling
from the trunk denotes satisfaction,
trumpeting assign OF rage, the striking
the trunk on the ground with pitiful
cry shows alarm, and a kind of grunt
is used to express Impotence or dissat-
isfaction. Col. Pollock gives good deal
OF information as to the various ways of
catching and training them, and he
rather defends the mahouts from the
many sins alleged against them, saying
they are, as a rule, plucky and not a
bad class OF men, easily managed if
treated with kindness and frmness.
The trip up the Irriwaddie to Pagan
Myo, Ava, Umrapoorah, and Mandalay
is one OF the most interesting portions
of Col. Pollock's book. On this occa-
sion he saw the white elephant, although
he was not clad in his state trappings,
covered with magnificent precious
stones, "any one of which is worth a
fortune" The animal stood about ten
and a half feet nigh, was handsomely
made, and had tusks seven feet long,
which. as they all but touch the ground,
required to be slightly shortened each
year.