Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-10-27
AFRICAN ELEPHANTS.
A Scheme to Make Them Useful to the
Whites as Beasts of Burden.

A Scheme to Make Them Useful to the
Whites as Beasts of Burden.
1t is expected that efforts will soon be
made to tame elephants in some re-
gions of Africa, and make them useful
TO the whites there as beasts of burden.
In several Eastern countries the en-
ployment of Indian elephants for
draught and carrying purposes is
almost universal, and the question has
recently been raised whether their AT
r1can cousins can not be tanned and
made useful in great districts where
the deadly tsetse fly prevents the use
of horses and cattle. We have seen
many tame African elephants in me-
nageries and circuses, among which
Jumbo was the most famous; but for
many centuries the elephant has not
been domesticated in Africa, for the
reason that his habitat for hundreds of
years has been only among savage
tribes, who have no use for him except
to kill him for food and ivory. Only
two recent instances are known of the
tanning of elephants by negro tribes.
Some fifteen years ago King Mtesa
sent, as a present to the Sultan of Zan-
zibar, a perfectly tame young elephant,
and seven years ago an explorer in An
COLA reported that he found tame
elephant among the natives of the
River Cunene.
In 1879 the International Association
imported q number of Indian elephants
into Africa. They were heavily laden
with goods for the white station at
Karema, on Lake Tanganyika, and
started west with caravan from the
Zanzibar coast. The experiment was
failure. Not one of them lived to
reach the great lake, and all died
within five months. Although the ex-
pertinent was not fairly conducted, the
elephants being far too heavily laden
and also improperly fed, it is not
likely to be soon repeated.
The African elephant has hereputa-
ton of being less docile and intelli-
gent than his Indian relative, but there
seems to be no good grounds for this
belief. For hundreds OF years before
and after the dawn of the Christian era,
when herds of elephants roamed in the
Atlas mountains and were found in
many parts of North Africa, they were
hunted by the Egyptians and the Car
thagenians, and captive elephants were
thoroughly tanned and trained for car
rying purposes and also for war. They
were taught to trample down the enc
my in battle. The war elephants that
nearly succumbed amid the SHOWS of
the Alps when Hannibal led them into
Italy were from Africa, and many an
elephant that marched in the triumphs
of Roman Generals through the streets
of Rome were part of the war estab-
lishment of Carthage. To-day the
wild African elephant can be found only
south of the Sahara desert, in the
iungles of savage Africa.
After African elephants ceased to be
used in war they still figured largely in
Rome in the cruel sports of the circus.
They were sent into the arena to fight
for their lives with lions, tigers and
other ferocious beasts. They were also
trained 70 perform remarkable tricks,
and if half what the Latin writers say
about the African elephant be true be
is certainly not surpassed in intelli-
gence by the Indian quadruped.
MIR. A. j. Wauters, of Brussels, one
of the leading authorities on questions
relating TO AFRICA, ana other gentle
men who have made study of the
African elephant, believe that it is en-
tirely feasible to tame this noble lord
of the jungles, and put his back to the
same uses for which hundreds of black
porters are now hired. No attempts
have yet been made by white men to
catch him alive except for menagerie
purposes, but there are pioneers now
in Africa who hope some day to see
him tanned and trudging obediently
along in caravan.
It is not difficult to distinguish the
African from the Indian elephant. The
African animal is noted for much
greater convexity OF face, for longer
tusks and much longer ears than his
Indian relative. N. 7. SuH.