Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-01-19
ELEPHANTS OF BRAINS.
HANDLE LUMBER AS WELL
AS HUMAN BEINGS.
In British Burmah They Use the Intel
IGent Pachyderms In the Lumber
Business-A Couple of Animals Boss
Their brethren In the Work.

broken for show purposes, cannot
offer the slightest comparison in
interest to the trained elephants
exhibition one sees in the city of
Moulmein, British Burmah. The
most absorbinglY entertaining feature
OF the novel sight is the paradoxical-
ly industrial character which the
work OF these huge Indian pachy-
derms assumes. 1t hardly seems
possible that the work of sawmill.
usually done by human hands, could
be accomplished through the medium
OF the elephants trunk and the
elephants sagacity; nevertheless it
is fact that the Irawadi steamship
company uses some forty or fifty
elephants in the operation of its
sawmills at Moulmein. and the teak
wood so largely entering into the
construction of ships is here made
ready for the hands OF the artisan.
A gentleman lately returned from
tour of the East gives an interest
ing account of the manner in which
the mills are operated. The logs are
chopped in tho interior and foated
several hundred miles down the Sal
win river to the mill, which Is stu
ated on the banks OF the stream at
Moulmein. Here the logs are formed
into a boom, and henceforth the
work OF transporting is done by the
elephants.
The most wonderful, interesting.
novel, and almost incredible feature
of the entire combination is the
sight OF two monstrously large male
elephants, squirting them on. push
ing, driving and frequently chastis-
ing lazy or recalcitrant member of
the force.
Very few men are needed to di-
rect the elephants in their work.
From six to eight of the animals
usually work in the water. These
wade or swim, according to the depth
of the water. TO the long boom, and
loosening several logs at a time tow
them to the shore at certain point.
Each OF the company of elephants
that convey the logs from this point
to the drying place has a chain at
tached to his neck and reaching to
the ground. At the bottom of this
chain is loop. through which the
log is run. A man directs the move
ments OF the elephants in placing
the log within the coil OF the chain.
The elephant picks up another log
by his trunk, and In this manner
drags two at time to the seasoning
stacks. About eight elephants are
employed in this capacity. The
work of piling the logs to dry is
done by two female elephants. Each
winds her trunk about the log near
the end, and together they raise it
IN horizontal position and place it
on the stack.
After the logs have dried sulIl-
GENTLY they are ready for the mill.
Two female elephants take the dry
logs from the piles and deliver them
TO herd similar in training to those
that work between tho water and the
seasoning stacks. These convey the
logs TO track over which a small
car runs to the mill Only ono log
at time is placed upon this car.
AS soon as log is in position on the
car an elephant, trained for this par
ticular part of the work. pushes tho
car to the mill. Arrived at the mill
the log is pushed from the car TO a
carrier that passes beneath the buzz
saw. AS soon as the log is thus
transferred to the carrier the ele-
plant operating the car returns for
another log, while another huge
beast trained to do the saving oper-
ates the carrier and pushes the log
against the saw. But the interest
ing part of the work does not end
here, for, as the log is being sawed
into the desired boards and timbers
another elephant receives the com
pleted material, piling the slabs on
one side and the more valuable
product on the other But two men
are required to oversee and direct
the elephants used in saving the logs.
Another detachment OF the herd is
used in carrying the lumber from the
mill TO the yards and sheds For
this purpose very long trucks with
the low front and back wheels close
to each other are used. There are
elephants trained for loading the
sawed material upon these trucks
while others push the loaded trucks
to the sheds. In the lumber yard
are the "pilers." or elephants that
take the lumber from the trucks and
place it in piles for further seasoning.
AS stated before, there is one de-
tachment OF this strange army of
laborers which does the Kitchen
work" for the hotel de elephant. or
whatever the feeding place of these
big fellows may be called. says the
Chicago Times Some may be seen
carrying hay for the stables, but by
far the most interesting sight is the
preparation of the food. This is
composed ofgrass, bran and molasses.
and is mixed in large vat While
some are carrying these different
components OF the highly delectable
elephantine boarding house hash
others are engaged in mixing it with
pestles, which they dexterously
manipulate with their trunks. The
narrator observed one of the ele-