Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-06
ELEPHANTS AT WORK.
pRODIGIOUS LABOR THEY PERFORM
AT lNDIAS LUMBER MILLS.

pRoDIGIOUs LABOR THEY PERFORM
At INDIA's LUMBER MILLS.
An Elephant Rolling Logs--Rewarded
for Extra Hard Work-CarrJing Dray
Load on the Tusks-An Anxious Mother.
Tricks Taught.
Early the next day, while yet cool, we Wis
tied one Of the decided ''lions' of the city
the working elephants. Formerly these were
very Numerous, being the heavy workers In
the timber yards and great sawmllls. Ma
chinery has now supplanted them in all es-
adjustments run by foreigners. In each OF
the native mills, where small orders are
filled, two of the noble beasts yet perform
the heavy labor which human hands unas-
sisted could scarcely manage. Ne visited
some of these the second time on cur return
from up country, and were greatly inter
ested They draw the logs, many OF them
three feet in diameter and thirty TO forty
feet long, from the river, pile them up IN
systematic order, and when they are needed
roll them to the ways and assist in adjusting
them for the saw Lumber is not here sawed
into boards, but the slab is taken of and
the good stuff left in square timbers TO be
ripped up into boards where consumed This
is done both for home consumption and for
expectation.
After the log is thus cut the elephant goes
among the machinery, takes the slabs away,
and then carries the good timber and plies It
up or lays it gently upon the OK carts to be
hauled off. A carpenter we saw wanted ium-
Der from particular log which was under
several others. One of the monsters rolled
the upper logs off and pushed the chosen
stick>to the mill. The way was not clear
the log butted against others. He pushed
those aside and guided his piece through
them with a sagacity almost human. HIS
stick became wedged. He pushed and tugged !;
it would not bulge. But at whispered
word from TIE mahout and the promise of a
bit Of nice food he bent to it. Still it stuck
With whistle audible for quarter of a
mile he got on his knees, Strengthened out his
hind legs and put his whole force to it. He
was successful We could almost read his
satisfaction in the gentle flaps of his huge
ears and the graceful gentle curve of his
proboscis as he put it up to the mounted ma
hout asking his reward.
HOW THEY DO IT.
Sticks over two feet thick and ten to
fifteen feet long are lifted up bodily upon the
great worries, and are then carried off and
laid upon the gangways SO gently as not to
make a jar. One stick twenty two inches
thick and twenty-five feet long we saw car
red in this way. In carrying this the beast
uad a path not three feet wide among the
masses of loose logs. He had TO plant his
fore feet upon these and thus walk con-
siderable distance He looked as if he were
walking upon his hind legs. The corner Of
q bamboo nut stood in his way. He lifted
the log over its roof, and bent his body SO
that his sides gently scraped the corner Of
the house and did not shake it. A hun
dredth part of his weight would have caused
it to topple from its pile foundation.
He was ordered to carry OFF a pile of Axe
pieces 10 to Is feet long. He ran his tusks
under a few. The mahout told him that was
not enough. He tried again, and probably
doubled his load. His driver gave him q
fierce prod with his iron hook over the fore
head With shrek of rage he sent his
worries under the pile and threw his snout
over the top He had to get on his knees to
get the load up. 1t was decent dray load.
AS he passed Us, perched on a pile of logs,
moved away, for | thought there was blood
in his eye, and that he might dump the load
on the foreigners. But when he came back
he stopped before US, got on his knees,
bowed three times, and held out his snout to
us for gratuity. 1 pitched coin to the
mahout He whispered to the beast that
his elephantship would get part of it,
This seemed satisfactory, for he snuffed up
a pint of dust, blew it over his rump, and
marched off for a bath in mud hole not
far away. Each mill has a pair. They work
only in short spells, and take their rest when
feeding iii grass grown mud ponds
a BABY ELEPHANT.
= In Mandalay we saw quite number be-
longing to the English commissary depart
ment They were formerly King Thebaw's
One of them had little baby only thirty
four inches tall. The mother was chained
to tree. The baby toddled to us and held
out his snout. tried to catch it. He gave
a whistle. l feared the cow would break
loose-she seemed so uneasy and strained so
at her chain. But l got my hand on the
little fellows back and scratched it. How
he wriggled with pleasure. The mother
) understood the thing, and eased up. When
we started off the calf wanted more rub
bling. and followed us. The COW blew a
whistle that made US hurry. The little
fellow then toddled back, and took pull at
his morning bottle.
On the steamer going to Mandalay Mr..
Lacey, superintendent of the great Bombay.
Timber company, was fellow passenger.
He employs 600 elephants drawing teak logs
to the creeks several hundred miles up one
of the branches of the Irawaddy. He his
been here many years, and gave me several
curious anecdotes showing the wonderful sa-
gacity of the great monsters.
Each elephant has MS Individual keeper,
but when they go into camp at close of day
they are sent off alone to the jungleS for dry
wood, and never fail to bring the proper
kind. From many things told me | ain al
most persuaded they have decided reasoning
qualities and are not simply taught tricks
by rote. We watched the performance Of
several at Rangoon for two or three hours,
and saw evidences of sagacity far surprising
the little tricks done in the menageries. The
mahout sits ON houdah on the back OF the
huge animal He rarely speaks loud enough
for one to hear him few feet of. Mr.
Lacey believes they understand Burmese
One day be praised one of the elephants in
this language. The animal showed evident
pleasure. He then spoke disparagingly of
him The vain monster gave such unrnistak-
able signs of being angry that the mahout
asked Lacey to desist TO prevent danger
Calcutta Cor. Chicago Mail
He who has less than he desires should
know that he has more than he deserves
Mesmerisrn q Cure for Topers.
The following story comes from Sois-
sons: IL is affirmed that ahn11t a fnrrr1ir-h