The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-18
TO GREAT FEATS OF LABOR
WORK PERFORMED BY THE ELE-
PLANTS OF BURMAH.
ster beasts of Burdcn--Their In
telligcnce.

Enormous Loads Carried by the Mon
ster beasts of Burdcn--Their In
teIIigcnce.
From the Detroit Free Press.
out at the great. struggling old-fash-
toned saw mills of Rangoon with their
mountains of teak logs and acres Of
square timber is to be seen one Of the
sights of the east; and. as far as the ami
NAL kingdom is concerned, of the whole
world. An American mill hand, fresh
from the great buzzlng. whirling mills
of this land. would find much to amuse
him in the ponderous. obsolete affairs
they run in the land of the pagoda for
cutting up the splendid teak wood But
though the mills are lacking In every
thing calculated TO interest man from
this go-ahead land, the sight of the huge,
docile creatures that handle the timber
will amply repay a visit.
Most persons have at one time or an
other seen the trained elephants in the
circus ride the tricycle.. sit on a chair
and do other tricks of that sort; but there
is something forced about the whole
thing. and the spectator feels that
if it was not for the ropes and the tents
and the guards the poor beast would
bidht al Nltdi bOlA VI IL anu cut lnt WnOIe
business. But out there in the open,
where there is nothing to cheer or force
him on his wayne bon bons or peanuts.
no crowd of pushing, rushing supers to
hustle him into his act, excepting the ma
bout. who sits like a cherub up above and
whose office is more or less of a sinecure
the big fellow plods along and does the
most dexterous sort of work in leis-
the manner born.
Straight and evenly he piles those great
sticks of timber he is carrying, one by
one on his cleaning white tusks, his
powerful trunk thrown over IL to keep
1t in place. The last one he has put up
is standing out a little at one end but
he knows that as well as we do, for has
he not run his keen little eye down the
side TO see and leisurely he stalks down,
and laying his massive forehead against
it shoVes II into place-exactly in place
too-not an inch too far nor an inch too
little. Then he flaps his great, sail-like
ears and, with his tongue In his cheek
and looking as full of humor and mis-
chief as any circus elephant ever did,
starts off for another ton or two of tim
Der.
Away he goes, tapping the ground with
his trunk as he rolls along, as II he were
sounding the earth's crust to see how
solid Il had become since he was born a
few hundred years aback.
Queer little odds and ends they are a.
ways picking up and blowing out of their
trunks again. one cannot help thinking
that if they had pockets one would find
them full Of queer little stones, shells, bits
of string, nails and other things dear to the
heart of the small boy and indigenous to
his pockets. Sometimes our friend of the
timber pops d handful of assorted goods
he has gathered up on the dusty road into
the lap of the sleepy mahout as he sits nod
ding In the hot Burmese sun Sometimes
he envelopes his startled rider in minia-
ture cyclone, which appears to be made up
of all the available debris in the neighbor-
hood. a rare fund OF humor these grave.
dignihed workers have, for il has not been
drummed out of them in a circus.
Another big fellow, his head and ears
covered with pinkish white spots, the same
as any other leper-elephant or man-an1
the same as Barnums celebrated white
elephant is working away at pile of
slabs He wears harness, and after he
has carefully gathered together the ends
of two or three great long slabs, cut from
the full length of the trunk of a tree, he
will pass the chain attached to his while
tree about them and walk them off 10
their proper place as If they were so many
matches then he Will unhitch the chain
again, using his trunk, ana return for an
A mighty giant. larger than either of the
others is pushing a tremendous beam
along the ground. Carefully he pilots II
in and out among the piles of lumber and
sticks OF lumber. He pushes II with his
forefoot as one might shove brick out of
the way with the boot, but If IL sticks a
Iittle h. win take his trunk, too; II the lam
is obdurate and these means fail, he will
kneel down and put his mighty head
AGAINST IT, when something has TO 90
a clergyman, driving horse for the first
time so the ancient story goes, ordered a
washtub full of oats for him in answer to
the hostler's query as TO now much he
should feed the animal. He may have
seen an elephant feed however, II not a
horse for that is just what ] saw these
workers get at their monday rest-a wash
tub full Of grain. A washtub full OF food
does not seem to be very much, perhaps
for such monstrous beasts, but they want
ii on time When the bell rings there is no
more work for them-they simply refuse
TO do another turn. Mahouts have paid
the penalty of trying 70 make them work
latter hours" with their lives. The big fell
lows are good-tempercd enough, and will
stand a lot Of abuse from the Mahouts
but when they make up their minds that
a certain thing had better be done a Ger