Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-02-17
WEIGHING AN ELEPHANT.
How an Ingenious Prince Solved a DIFF
dcuIt Problem of State.

dcuIt Problem of State.
About 2OO years ago there lived a
Prince of Mahrattas, in Hindostan,
whose name was Shahjee. Princes are
numerous in India, but this particular
prince was long remembered on account
of his benefcence and great wisdom.
He seems to have been the most learned
prince of the time, and his advice and
help were always sought in critical mat
ters. Many stories are told of his in
genious settlement of difficulties, and
some of them are certainly curious.
Once very high official in the court
of Prince Shahjee made vow that if he
succeeded in a certain enterprise, he
would distribute to the poor of his dis
trict 1.-The weight of his own elephant in
silver" Elephants were highly priced
by these princes, and each kept the larg-
est and finest for his own use. The Of
ficials vow, if hasty, was generous, and
perhaps the success of his undertaking
was worth the price,
The undertaking succeeded; but the
official, willing to keep his oath, was
met by an unexpected difficulty. There
was no possible way of finding the ele-
plants correct weight No scales in
the country were constructed of sutfi-
cient power to weigh such enormous
beasts. Elephants were not sold by the
pound, and no need had before arisen
! for scales to weigh them. All the learned
and clever men Of the court tried in vain
| to construct a machine of sufficient
power to weigh the enormous beast. 1t
did seem probable that the poor of Hin
| dOstan would have to get along without
that silver. 1t is possible that the Off
cial had thought of this objection when
he made the VOW. Indians are crafty
/ and this one might have been cunning
enough to leave himself loophole OF
escape to prevent parting with his
money.
But If any such notion had occurred tC
him, he was doomed to disappointment
| in the matter. The question was re
ferred to Shahjee, as all such vexatioui
questions were. And it did not TAXI
him long to find very simple solution
That is always the way with true genius
you know. The solution it finds is 81
simple that every one cries out il
wonder:
"Why, of course! Why didn't some
body speak of that beforeY
Shahjee commanded the elephant T.
be conducted along platform into
fiat bottomed boat which lay by tn
water side. When the animal wa
safely aboard, he desired the attendant
to mark upon the boats side the exac
height to which the water reached whel
the elephant weighed it down. The
the elephant was taken out and stone
substituted, until enough were loade
into the boat to bring it to the sam
water line as when the elephant was tn
passenger.
Then the stones were weighed. If tn
. scales could not hold all at once, pan
could be taken at a time, you see, an
so the elephants weight was correctl
5 ascertained. It is safe to conclude tn;
S the poor of Hindostan finally got Il
p silver. a prince so wise must have ais
D been Just. Whether the official WI
s paid the money was quite satisfied, hi
q tory does not tell us; but we will hop
: for his charitys sake, he was, and as
full grown elephant weighs several ton
the amount distributed among the po
l. of the district must have been ve'
large. -Harper's Young People.