Richland beacon., 1888-04-28
GREAT BEITES At WORK.
ELEPHANTS WHO LABOR IN THE
INDIAN LUM MBER MILLS
The intci'igrnt MANNER in Which
fhey Pc: form icrculean fcats-
their R.a ,oEing Faculties.


Farly the rcyt day, writes Carte, II.
Harrison from Calcutta to the Chicago
MAI, we visited one Of the lions" of
tic clty-the working elephants. For.
merly these were very Numerous. bcin"
the heavy workers in the timbct yards
and great sawmills. Machinery has now
supplantod them in all establishments
run by foreigners. In each the native
mills, where small orders are filed, two
! OF the noble beasts yet perform the
heavy labor which human hands una
sisted could scarcely manage We
vl>ite some Of ,hcsc the second time on
our return from up country, and were
greatly interes, Il. They draw the logs.
many Of them .hrec feet IN diameter and
thirty TO fotv fe.t long, from the river,
pile them up in systematic order, and
when they &rc needed roll them To the
ways and assist in al usting them for the
saw. Lumber u not here sawed into
boards, but the slab is taken off and the
good stuff ,et in square timber to b.
ripped up into bolrjs 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 cares the good
timber and piles it up or lays it gently
upon the on carts to be hauled Or. :,
carpenter We saw wanted lumber from a
part .cular log which was under several
o;hcr'. One Of the monsters rolled the
upper logs OF and pushed the chosen
stick to the mill. The way was not clear
the log butted against others. lie
pushed these aside and guided his piece
throcgh them with a saga-ity almost
human. His stick became we'd gel. He
pushed and tuggcd; it would not bulge.
But at whispered word from the ma
hOut an the promise of a bit Of nice
food he bent TO it. Stll it stu k. With
whistle audible for Il q, arc of nile
he got on his knees, strai aightened out
his hind legs, an put his whole force
to it. lie vas successful Wecould al
most read his satisfaction in the gentle
flaps Of his huge ears and the graceful
curve of his proboscis rs he put II up to
the mounted mahout asking his reward.
Sticks over two feet thick and ten to
fifteen feet long are lifted up bodily
upon the great ivories, and are there
carried off and laid upon the gangways
so gently as not to make jar. One
stick twenty-five inches thick and
twenty two feet long we saw carried in
this way. In carrying this the beast had
path not three feet wide among masses
of loose logs. He had to plant his fore
feet upon these and thus walk a con-
siderable d stance. lie looked as if he
were walking upon his hind legs. The
corner of a bamboo hut stool in his way.
He lifted the log over its roof, and Lent
his bod; SO that his sides gently scraped
the corner Of the house and did not
shake it. A hundredth part of his weight
would have caused it to toppIe from its
pile foundation.
He was rdered to carry off q piie of
4x5 pic 'cs 10 to ID feet long. He ran
his tusks under few. The mahout tod
hlm that was not enough. He tried
again, and probably doubled his load.
His driver gave IN a fierce prod with
his iron hook over the forehead With
a shrek o! rage he sent his ivories under
the pile aud threw his snout over the top
He had to get on his knees to get the
load up. 1t was de cnt drly load As
he passed us, pcrchel on pile Of logs.
Imoved away, for thou hit thee WIS
blood in his eye. and that lie 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 T. us for grItuity.
pitched a cola to the mahout He
whispered TO the least that hi, elephant
ship would get a lart OF it. TIN; seemed
satisfactory, for he snu fed mp pm;
of dust, blew it Ov r his head. and
marched off for bath in mud hole not
far away. Each mill has u par. They
work only in short spells. and take their
rest wien feed ng in grass grown mud
ponds.
In Maadalay We saw quite a number
belonging TO the English Commissary De
pa.tment. they were formerly King
Thcbaw's. One of them hld a baby
only thirty-four inches tall The mother
was chained 20 tree The baby toddled
10 us and held ont its ssnout. tried TO
catch it. He gave whistle. feared
the COW wOul brcll loo e-she seemed
so uneasy and strained so at her chain.
But got my hand on the little fellows
b elk and scratched it, Hos he wrigcled
with pleasure. The mother understood
the thing and cased up. When we
started OF the calf wanted more rub
bing, and followed US. The COW blew
a whistle that made US hurry. The little
fellow then toddlcd lack and took pail
at his morn ng bottle. On the steamer
going to Mand ,lay Mr. Lacey, Super
intendent of the great Bombay Timber
Company, was a fel ow passenger. He
employs t0) elephants drawing teak logs
TO the creek several h :ndred miles up
one OF the branches Of the Irawaddy.
Each elephant h1s his individual
keeper, but when they go into camp at
close of day they are sent off alone to
the junglei for dry wood, and never fail
to bring the proper kind. From many
things told me | am almost persuaded
they haze dee ded reasoning qualities,
and are not IMPLY taught tricks by rOte.
We watched the performance of several
at EangOOn 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. H. rarely speaks
loud enough for one to hear him few
feet OF. Mr.. Lacey he ieve, the under
stanl Bum One day he praised one
of the elephants in this language. The
animal showed evident pleasure. lie
then spoke disparIgngly of him. The
vain monster gave such unmis. akable
signs of being angry the mahout asked
Lacey to desist to prevent danger
Chang Yen IIoon, Chinese Minister at
Woah;,.,ar =, e.. L