Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-06-09
BURMESE ELEPHANTS.
NOT so COURAGEOUS AN ANIMAL
As IS GENERALLY SUPPOSED.

How the Mahou. Takes Advantage Of His
Beasts sagacity-An Eiephant's Caution
When Crossing Bridse-Nervous About
New Departure.
The elephant holds the first rank among
beasts for size, strength and intelligence.
although he Is not by any means so cour.
ageous an animal as is generally sup
posed He won't fight unless he cannot
get out Of q scrape by any other means.
BE will. when travelling with load Of
humans In a forest. start at any noise in
the Jungle and If not soothed by his
mahout, Is ready to bolt into the forest,
quite careless about those who are mounted
upon his capacious back Perhaps this
trait In his character is not want of cour-
age, but merely nervousness They are
the general beast of burden in the country.
and the government departments have
number of them in their charge Each
elephant has his name. and 1t Is interest
ing to watch them at work. Their
mahouts often take advantage Of their
sagacity and so save themselves trouble.
saw an instance OF this up the coun-
try The telegraph follows the advance
of the troops TO secure rapid commun,ca,
ton with the rear So line was formed
as the country was occupied First a
track was made by Telling all timber and
clearing off any underground. etc, to
about twenty feet in width, hundreds Of
men being employed. Such trees as were
suitable In length and otherwise were
trimmed into the required shape for tele-
graph poles: number of them being piled
at intervals along the track. Then the
elephants were sent to carry the poles to
the distances they were to be set apart. l
saw one mahout conduct his elephant to O
pile of these heavy poles and tell the in
telligent animal to pick one up: he then
with a long wand he had for the purpose
measured of the distance and accom-
panied the elephant. who carried the pole
to the place the mahout indicated Then
saw the mahout tell the elephant to go
to the pile and place them in line along
the track, AT the same distance apart as
the one he had measured The man then
lay down under tree and went to sleep
In the meantime the noble animal took
up each piece of timber and carried 1t TO
its proper place IN the line felt so in
terested that | stayed to witness the
whole proceeding ] measured the dis
tances BY pacing and found them all to be
equal in length and correctly placed like
the FIRST one The beast then went to his
mahout and gently touched him with the
tip of his trunk and awoke him. as much
as to say. "All is finished. master. accord
ing to your orders The mahout awoke,
mounted the elephant and went forward
to continue the line in the same easy and
agreeable manner
! often watched an elephants motions
before he would cross q native bridge over
a river He Is most cautious. puts one
foot down gently and presses on the
planks to see that all IL safe and firm
before he will venture upon them When
perfectly satisfied Of the safety of the
structure, and not until then, he will
walk over 10 the other side Other ele-
plants who may be in company will stop
and attentively watch the proceedings OF
the leader When all is right they follow
kim without hesitation They are not
without warrant for their caution.
tor these native bridges are often very
dckety structures. and ! saw many Of
them come to grief during my experience
of them Elephants are sometimes de-
scribed as running. but It Is contrary to
their habits to do SO: they invariably walk
The only time know of their going at a
faster rate is when a wild elephant Is
hard pressed by shekarries Especially II
slightly wounded. he will Suddenly turn
and rush at his assailants. select one and
try TO catch him This is termed charging
Should he reach the unfortunate hunter
the elephant would seize him around the
body with his flexible trunk, whirI him 70
the earth. and tread him into bloody
mass of flesh
| have mentioned the nervousness OF
these animals An instance was shown
in the difficulty found in making them
draw q light wagon 1t was considered
that In a level country handy. e..
native cart, holding quantity Of stores.
ETC., in addition to moderate load on the
beasts back. would save transport. and
that more could be carried than by merely
heavily loading the animals The handy
In Burmsh Is always drawn by the long
horned tame buffaloes OF the fine oxen oi
the country So trial was made to SCI
II the elephants would take favorably Il
this new departure in the order Of things
A special wooden cart was constructed
strongly built. with long bamboo shaft!
and a capacious body and primitive. soliC
wooden wheels One of the most docil,
Hkl0 Dcot habhiCA CiCPhoAibS " 80 oSAS~fS>
for the trial The cart was brought up u
him, the mahout meantime fondling ant
coaxing him and calling him pet names
at first with no promising result He a
length permitted the rope harness TO b
adjusted to his huge person, appearing
very much astonished and foolish all thu
time. He kept swinging his trunk about
and could scarcely be held quiet and II
proper position At last all was hxed
some heavy stones being placed In tn
cart as ballast The mahout tried to Goa,
him to go forward. but he would take
few steps only and then suddenly turn OF
to tie right or left. trying TO reach tn
cart with his trunk He did not like thu
rumble of 1t at his tail. which latter ap
pendage he kept down close TO his bod,
like frightened canine
At length. by dint Of praising him ant
kind treatment. be dragged the cart a few
PAGES onward As this was though
| enough for one day he was released
Every day for about a week he was 'pu
through his PAGES" until he was pretty
| perfect and made no objection to havinl
! the handy harpessed to him nor to dras
the cart whenever wanted Then all In
elephants were brought out to witness
| the performance. They looked CRITICAL!
\ at their brother in harness, walked arount
the concern and felt it with their trunks
When he started to travel with the band.
creaking behind him they seemed trif'
startled. but after while appearet
reconciled to the look Of the thing Afte
this exhibition little difficulty was ex
perienced In inducing the rest Of the gov
ernment elephants TO draw the specia
handles when 1t was requisite 10 do so
They had seen how the thing worked will
one of themselves. and therefore acceptes
| the situation as a matter Of course. =
Charles Aubrey's Burmah Letter in Sal
| Francisco Chronicle.
The Clover Weddfug.S