The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-11-29
ELEPHANTS.
The Sagacity With Which hey Choose
Their Camps and How They Are
5r Doctored for the Market.

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From the London Spectator.
Elephant -hHnting naturally takes a
prominent place in Col. Pollok'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
Goonies, those that have large tusks,
and the Mucknahs, or those that have
none, or only r~udimentary ones; the
two kinds seldom herding together, and
having peculiaries of formation which
render them very distinct, although
they do not seem to have been noticed
by other writer's The Mucknah is usu-
ally taller and more bulky than the
tusker, and has a longer and very pond
erous 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 infict most
formidable blows. Col. Pollok 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
a tortuous river impossible to ordinary
mortals, the fourth being protected by
a tangled thicket or a quagmire. 81
have been an hour or more, "he says,
''trying to penetrate into one of their
Businesses, where twenty or thirty ele-
plants were congregated within a space
nowhere more than 400 yards square;
but so well were all the approaches pro-
tected, 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 sbed or
begged in the quagmires, the noise we
made was sufficient to awaken the
seven sleepers to say nothing of dis
turbing a herd of elephants, and l had
the pleasure of seeing them make their
exit n way as | entered on the oppos-
lite side; and once more the animals
were on the move, such was the intri-
cate 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
for the brain of an elephant, as they
aim with considerable success at the
point of the shoulder, which is one of
its five vulnerable points. 1t is as anus
ing to find that there is as much rascal
ity about the sale of a tame elephant rs
about that Of u horse, the vicious one
being drugged and sold as docile, the
sleepy n frightened by the use of
ginger or brandy, and the useless brute,
that never carries flesh, fed up for the
time with MdSsdldhS 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 is a
sign of rage, the striking the trunk on
the ground with a pitiful cry shows
alarm, and n kind of grunt is used to
express impatience or dissatisfaction.
Col. Pollok gives a good deal of infor-
nation as to the various ways of catch
ing and training them and he rather
defends the mahouts from the many
sins alleged against them, SAYING they
are, as a rule, a plucky and not a bad
class of men, easily managed if treated
with kindness and firmness. The trip
up the Irriwaddie to Pagan, Myo, Ava,
Umrapoorah and Mandalay is one of
the most interesting portions of Col.
Pollek's book. On this occasion 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 high, was handsomely
made had tusks seven feet long, which,
as they all but touch the, ground, re-
CURED to be slightly shortened each
year. q