The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-09-08
ELEPHANTS.
A Circus Employee Tells How They are
Cared For.

ON@O
of elephants goes, to the head equerry
of the King of Dude. We know now
that the elephant ranges over a wide
area, and thrives in fairly elevated
lands near the s~now-levels. In this
country, and in all geological collec-
tions, he attains a fair old age. Their
trouble, Mr.. Newton told us. was a
tendency to chills. You had to be
careful how you watered them. If
the water was too cold, they we're
taken with a collie; generally a good
stiff drink Of rum brings them round"
And what might you call a stiff
drink" I asked.
"Ob, a gallon"
"Show any signs of jolIity?'
mot a bit. AS sober as judges. l
have had to blanket serious cases of
cramps. [ take as many blankets as 1
can get, and steep them in hot water,
and bind them round the elephant; and
when he's swaddled up that way he
looks huge. An elephant will take a
gallon of oil, OF the same measure Of
linseed oil. He may be a sensible
animal in some respects, but not in
all. If he picks up a nail in his foot,
which happens pretty often, he will
stop right away and show you his
trouble, and let you take it out for
him, and seem sort of grateful, but he
dOesn'thanker after medicine. The way
we work him is to make him open his
mouth. The oil we put in a galvanized
iron bottle, and we place that on his
tongue, force his head backwards,
and down goes the oil. No harm ever
is done him with the prods. 1t takes
four or five hands to make an elephant
take his medicine"
l have always remembered a very
clever book of Charles Reade's, Jack
Of All Trades" which gave a rather
sinister view of an elephant, and I
recall too a great deal of nonsense
written about the cruelty of elephant
prods. It would be absurd to try and
manage an animal of such prodigious
pOwers-the strongest we know Of
with a riding-switch, and prods are
necessities. An elephant knows his
keeper and Obeys him, may show a
kind of respect with some little affec-
ton for his master, but he has. no
liking for strangers. If I were left
alone with any show elephant, the
keeper being absent, l should at once
want to beat a hasty retreat. Never
through curiosity or carelessness get
yourself between an elephant and a
wall, Or you may have the life crushed
out of you. The upshot Of which is
that Oriental mahoots or American
keepers must have prods; and it is
also fortunate for man that elephants
have sensitive ears.
"Quarrelling among elephants is not
common, but we are careful not to put
the males together. Their tempers diff
fer; the females, however, are rarely
cross. In certain seasons we watch
the males very carefully, for they
become dangerous. There is an ele-
plant we cured of a broken leg. 1t
was a long job. We slung him, and
used splints and plaster. Elephants
run down in flesh in summer, because
we work them, and they are a good
deal knocked about, but in winter
they pick up. The tusks of the female,
which are short, have ragged ends, and
infct ugly wounds. When they are
SCARED we use carbolic salve. When
they stand for a long time, we have to
cut their toes and the soles of their
feet. We use a rasp and a chi5el, and
do not have any trouble"
When at Central Park, Mr.. Conklin
asked me to guess the circumference
of an elephants foot. I was ten inches
out of the way. Taking the fine brute
Tom in the m~enageria, the keeper
passed a cord round one Of the fore
feet, and it's circumference was four
feet eight inches. That" said the
superintendent, Ought to represent,
when multiplied by two, Toms greatest
elevation" ThereupOn a second meas
ure was taken, and Toms height was
nine feet four inches. [ have had a
CIICIC Will tIILS circumference uIdWu
in chalk on the floor, and it occupies
about the room of an ordinary tete-a-
tete tea table. The greatest diameter
is only obtainable when the elephant
is on his feet; then there is expansion
of the massive toes. The books give
the foot circumference as n of the
rough ways used in India to get at
the height of an elephant.-Harper's
WeeEIu