The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-11-11
AFRICAN ELEPHANTS.
A Scheme to Train the Wild Lords of the
Junsle as Beasts of Burden.

1t is expected that efforts will soon be
made to tame elephants in some regions
of Africa, and make them useful to the
whites there as beasts of burden, says
the New York San. In several eastern
countries the employment of Indian ele-
plants for draught and carrying pur-
poses is almost universal, and the ques-
ton has recently been raised whether
their African cousins cannot be tanned
and made useful in great districts
where the deadly tsctse 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 domesticateG 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 bv negro tribes
Some fifteen years ago King Mtesa sent,
as present TO the Sultan of Zanzibar,
perfectly tame young elephant, and
seven years ago an explorer in Angola
reported that he found tame elephant
among the natives of the River Cunene.
In 1879 the International Association
imported number of Indian elephants
into Africa. They We're heavily laden
with goods for the white station at
Kareme, 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 experiment was
not fairly conducted, the elephants be-
ing far too heavily laden and also i'm
properly fed, it is not likely to be soon
repeated.
The African elephant has the reputa-
ton of being less docile and intelligent
than his Indian relative, but there seem
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 Carthage
mans. and captive elephants were thor
oughly tanned and trained for CARRYING
purposes and also for war. They were
taught to trample down the enemy 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 gen.
erals through the streets of Rome were
q part of the war establishment of Car
thage. To-day the Wild African ele-
phant can be found only south of the
Sahara Desert in the jungles 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 to perform remarkable tricks,
and if what the Latin writer's say about
the African elephant be true he is cer-
tainly not surpassed in intelligence by
the Indian quadruped.
Mr.. Forepaugh announced the other
lay that before long he would have a
horse, whom he has taught to walk a
tight rope, attempt the feat of crossing
The Niagara gorge, after the manner of
Mr. Biondin. Suetonius, in his de-
SSl ptAOi VI thC VI lLlC I4lll-
peror Galba, tells of a wonderful ele-
phant. whose performances, he says, were
attested by thousands of witnesses. This
elephant was in the habit of mounting
cable and slowly walking up to the
top of the circus with his Roman trainer
on his back. He would then descend to
the arena again by the same route. The
historian has not informed us whether
the accomplished animal carried bal
ance pole in his trunk.
A. j. Wauters, of Brussels, one of the
leading authorities on questions relating
to Africa, and other gentlemen who have
made a study of the African elephant
believe that it is entirely feasible to tame
this noble lord of the jungles, and put
his back to the same uses for which hum
dreds 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 pio-
neers now in Africa who hope some day
TO see him trained and trudging obe-
diently along in a caravan.
1t is not difficult to distinguish the
African from the Indian elephant. The
African animal is noted for much great
er conveXity of face, for longer tusks,
and for much larger ears than his Indian
relative.