The gale., 1888-04-14
ELEPHANTS AT WORK.
How These Sagacious Animals Per
form the Work of Men at the
Lumber Mills.
[From the Chicaco MALL

From the Chicago MALL
While yet cool we visited one of the
decided "hons" of the city-the work
ing of elephants. Formerly these were
very numerous, being the heavy workers
in the timber yards and great sawmills.
Machinery has now supplanted them in
all establishments run by foreigners. In
each of the native mills, where small or
ders are filled, two of the noble beasts
yet perform the heavy labor which hui
man hands unassistod could scarcely
manage. We visited some the second
time ON our return from up country,
and were greatly Interested They draw
the logs, many of them three feet in di
ameter 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 Tor the saw. Lumber is not here
sawed into boards, but the slab is taken
off and the good stuff left in square
timber 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 piles it up or lays it gently
upon the OK carts to be hauled off. A
carpenter we saw wanted lumber from a
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 these aside and guided his
piece through them with sagacity al
most human. His stick became wedged.
He pushed and tugged; it would not
bulge. But at whispered word from
the mahout and the promise of bit of
nice food he bent to it. Still it stuck.
With whistle audible for quarter of
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 curve of his proboscis as he put
it up to the mounted mahout asking his
reward.
Sticks over two feet thick and ten to
fifteen feet long are lifted up bodily up
on the great worries, and are then car
ried off and laid upon the gangways so
gently. as not to make jar. One stick
twenty-tw two inches thick and twenty two
feet long we saw carried in this way.
In carrying this the beast had path
loose logs. He had to plant his fore feet
upon these and thus walk q consider
able distance. He looked as if he were
walking upon his hind legs. The cor
ner of bamboo hut stood in his way.
He lifted the log over its roof, and bent
his body so that his sides gently scrap
ed the corner of the house and did not
shake it. A hundredth part of his
weight would have caused it it to topple
from its pile foundations.
He was ordered to carry off pile of
Axe pieces 10 to Is feet long. He ran
his tusks under few. The mayhout
told him that was not enough. He tried
again, and probably doubled his load.
His driver gave him fierce prod with
his iron hook over the forehead. With
..shriek of rage he sent his ivories un
der the pile and threw his snout ovel
the top. He had to get on his knees to
get the load up. IT was a decent dray
load. AS he passed us, perched on q
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 q gratuity. l pitched a
coin to the mahout. He whispered to
the beast that his elephantship would
get part of it. This seemed satisfac
tory, for he snuffed up pint of dust,
blew it over his rump, and marched of
for bath in mud hole not far away.
Each mill has q pair. They work only
in short spells, and take their rest when
feeding in grass grown mud ponds.