Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-02-19
WEIGHING AN ELEPHANT.


How an Ingenious Prince Solved Diff
hcult Problem of State.
About 200 years ago there lived |
Prince of Mahrattas, In Hindostan, |
whose name was Shahjce 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
tiers. Many stories are told Of his in
genious settlement of difficulties, and
some of them are certainly curious.
Once a very high official in the court
of Prince Shahjee made a 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
ficiars 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-
, phants correct weight. No scales in
the country were constructed of sut1-
Gent 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
Q power to weigh the enormous beast Il
/ did seem probable that the poor of Hin
t dostan would have to get along without
a that silver 1t is possible that the Off
a cial had thought Of this objection whel
+ he made the vow. Indians are crafty
n and this one might have been CUNNING
5 enough to leave himself a lOophole o
, escape to prevent parting with HI
= money.
h But if any such notion had occurred T
g him, he was doomed to disappointment
70 in the matter. The question was IT
l. ferred to Shahjee, as all such vexatlou
u questions were. And it did not TAX
d him long to find very simple solution
N That is always the way with true genlu
le YOU know. The solution it finds Is
1T simple that every one cries out
Iy wonder:
is "Why, of counsel Why didn't som
s. body speak of that before?
81 Shahjee commanded the elephant
n be conducted along a platform into
st fiat bottomed boat which lay by Il
IL water side. When the animal vi
safely aboard, he desired the attendan
to mark upon the boats side the exa
height to which the water reached wit
i'll the elephant weighed it down. Tn
he the elephant was taken out and ston
its substituted, until enough were load
,ts into the boat to bring it to the san
he water line as when the elephant was
Oh passenger. 49,
Die Then the stones were weighed. If {
w scales could not hold all at once, pi
gh could be taken at a time, you see, a
Nv so the elephants weight was correc
ascertainod. 1t is safe to conclude Il
IRE the poor of Hindo5tan finally got
lily silver. A prince 50 wise must have a
re- been Just. Whether the official W
nd paid the money was quite satisfied, /
Gu tory does not tell US; but we will no
nor for his charitys sake, he was, and a
eat full grown elephant weighs several to
ee- the amount distributed among the p
w of the district must have been "
ex- large. -Harper's Young People,