Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-01-20
BURMESE ELEPHANTS.
NOT SO COURAGEOUS AN ANIMAL
AS is GENERALLY SUPPOSED

q New Departure.
The elephant holds the first rank amonc
oeasts Tor size. strength and intelligence
uithough he is not by any means so cour
ageous an animal as is generally SIM
posed He won't eight unless he cannnt
get out OF scrape by any other means
ne VIII, when travelling with a load OF
humans In forest, start at any noise in
tne jungle. and If not socthed by his
nahout, Is ready to bolt into the forest.
quite careless about those who are mounted
upon his capacious back Perhaps this
tralt In his character is not want of cour
age, but merely nervousness They are
the general beast of burden in the country
ana the government departments have a
number OF them In their charge Each
eiephant mas his name and il is interest
ing 10 watch them at work. Their
nlanouts often take advantage of their
sagaclty 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 communjca
tion with the rear So line was formed
as the country was occupied First
track was made by telling all timber and
clearing on 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
saw one mahout conduct his elephant to a
pile OF these heavy poles and tell the in
telligent animal to pick one up. he then
with long wand he had for the purpose
measured off 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
70 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 a tree and went to sleep
In the meantime the noble animal took
up each piece of tim Der and carried II 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 hrst 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 a native bridge over
river He is most cautious, puts one
foot down gently and presses on the
planks to see that all is 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 to the other side Other ele
yvb br ~,
and attentively watch the proceedings of
the leader When all is right they follow
him without hesitation They are not
without warrant for their caution
for these native bridges are often very
rlckety structures and saw many of
them come to grief during my experience
OF them Elephants are sometimes de
scribed as running but il 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 if
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. whirl him to
the earth, and tread him into a bloody
mass of flesh
have mentioned the nervousness of
these animals An instance was shown
in the difficulty found in making them
draw light wagon II was considered
that in q level country handy / e.,
native cart, holding quantity of storcs.
ETC., i'll 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 Burmah is always drawn by the long
horned tame buffaloes or the fine oxen of
the country So trial was made to see
if the elephants would take favorably to
this new departure in the order of things
A special wooden cart was constructed.
strongly built with long bamboo shafts
and capacious body and primitive, solid
wooden wheels One of the most docie
and best natured elephants was selected
for the trial The cart was brought up to
him, the mahout meantime fondlng and
coaxing him and calling him pet names,
at first with no promising result He at
length permitted the rope harness TO be
adjusted to his huge person, appearing
very much astonshed and foolish all the
time He kept swinging his trunk about.
and could scarcely he held quiet and in
proper position AT last all was fixed,
some heavy stones being placed In the !
cart as ballast The mahout tried to coax
him to go forward but he would take Il
few steps only and then suddenly turn of /
to the right OF left trying TO reach the /
cart with his trunk lie did not like the
rumble of it at his tail which latter ap
pendage he kept down close to his body
like frightened canine
At length. by dint of praising him and /
kind treatment, he dragged the cart few
PAGES onward AS this was thought /
enough for one day he was released
Every day for about a week he was put /
through his PAGES until he was pretty
perfect and made no objection to having
the handy haruessed to him nor to drag
the cart whenever wanted Tben all the |
elephants were brought out to witness
the performance They looked critically |
at their brother in harness. walked around |
the concern and felt it with their trunks
When he started to travel with the handy /
creaking behind him they seemed a trlHe .
startled, but after while appeared |
reconciled to the look of the thing After .
this exhibition little difficulty was ex
perienced in inducing the rest of the gov
eminent elephants TO draw the special
handles when il was requisite to do so
They had seen how the thing worked with .
one of themselves and therefore accepted ,
the situation as matter of course
Charles Aubreys Burmah Letter In San
Francisco Chronicle,
Flow to Prolnng Life.
We all condemn the suicide but we fail .