Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-08-12
ELEPHANT FICTIONS.
Impossible Stories Tod About
tho Animals Memory.
His sasacity Is Greatly Exaggerated, Says
Prof. Lockhart-He Is, However, p
Good-Na.ured Beast II Prop
crly Treated.

Errors and extravagances-Oriental,
classic. medieval and modern supersti-
tion-cluster about my lord the ele-
phant," as he is called in India. T3erc
is hardly an animal about which SO
many fictions EXIT or which is SO little
understood.
The popular opinion is that the Gle
plants memory is as retentive us
mans. Stories are constantly floating
about to this effect. The last one l met
with asserted that an elephant had
killed man who, 20 years before, when
a small boy, had given him piece of to-
bacco, or had in some way maltrcated
him. OF course this story IS preposter-
Gus. In the first place most elephants
love tobacco, and instead of killing q
man for giving him a chew, he would be
most likely to trumpet welcome and
caress him every time he presented HIM
self. But as to his remembering any
body for 20 years or 90 months even, 1t
is sheer nonsense. There is hardly an
animal whose memory is so eapricious.
An equally unaccountable fiction is
y
when a gland swells on each side of the
animals head about six inches back of
the eyes, and which emits watery dis
charge of unpleasant odor. At such
times the elephant is supposed TO be n
very dangerous creature. AS l never
knew an elephant to be especially dsa-
greeable when he had cold in his head,
| am inclined to class this with the
other ridiculous and absurd yarns so
often repeated.
1t is commonly supposed that the
elephant is unable to give definite ex-
preston to his feelings. This is a mis-
take. lie always expresses his pleasure
in one way, by blowing through his
trunk. The noise made is exceedingly
shrill. When in want, he expresses it
in a low note made by the mouth, and
when in anger or when in revengeful
mood, he makes a terrific roar with his
throat, which sounds like distant thun-
der. He ncvcr mixes these sounds;
they always stand for definite states of
feeling, and are as well understood by
the trainer as are the deep, slow-drawn
and far resounding snores heard at
midnight in the elephants stable.
The elephants wisdom has SO often
been cStolled that "sagacious as an ele-
plant" has passed into an axiom. In
bo.ut of fact an animal will cross rot
ten bridge full of holes if youwill permit
him to do so. Even in his wild state,
though possessed of proboscis which
is capable of guarding it against such
dangers, the elephant readily falls into
pits dug to receive it, which are only
covered with few sticks and leaves.
Its fellows make no effort in general
TO assist the fallen, as they might easily
do by kicking in the earth around the
edge. but fly in terror. 1t commonly
happens that n young elephant tumbles
into pit, near which its mother will
remain until the hunters come, without
doing anything II help it - not even
feeding it by throwing in a few branch
es Whole herds of elephants are led
into Enclosures which they could break
through as easily as if they were made
of cornstalks, and which no other ami
nal would enter; and single ones are
caught ty their hind legs being tied to-
gethcr by men under cover of tame ele-
plants. Animals that happen to escape
are captured again without trouble;
even experience viii not bring them
wisdom. | do not think that traduce
the elephant when / say that it is, IN
many things, stupid animal.
Regarding an elephant being unable
to express with his countcnance feel
ngs OF affection, fear, desire, | think
all those who have seen Boney simulate
drunkenness at Proctor's pleasure pal
ace, in the pantoinimc, IRON Cafe TO
Police Station" will readily acknowl-
edge this error. 1t is really wonderful
hoy, much facial expression an ele-
plant really has-with face skeleton
SO imperfect; that is to say. its nasal
bones are rudimentary, while the
mouth, all of the lower half of the face,
= concealed beneath great muscles at
tached to the base of the trunk. But in
spite of that, and with his ears un-
cooked and his proboscis pendant, an
ELEPHANTS countenance is full Of char
acter. -
The truth about the elephant is that
treated kindly and considerably, he is
. great, good-natured beast, who, for
his master, will perform any possibeie
labor or feat. They are very Affection
ate and exceedingly jealous of atten-
tons from their master