The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-14
lartinet who wIelds the sword could de-

martinez who wields the sword could de-
sire
To gain an accurate idea of the eIe-
plant in service with the artillery. a
glance at the accompanying illustration
Is helpful He is shown at rest and on
parade, and TO all Appearances realizes
as we'll as the mahout, who perches upou
the giant head, that he is on view and
must look his best and stand as straight
as the ranks in front of him. Everybody
who knows anything about elephants is
aware of the fact that when excited he "a
in the nature of a terror Oddly enough.
however, the trained elephant rarely gets
into that state of mind With the knoWI-
edge he gains seems to come the power
to control himself and do his duty az
best he can.
The particular use to which the elephant
Is put In the artillery line In India IL as a
beast OF draught for the heavy batteries
and for the guns of the siege train These
instruments Of war are tremendous In size
and exceedingly heavy. Until the regime
of the elephant 1t had been the custom to
take them drawn by long lines of bullocks.
There was. however, no end of trouble with
these beasts. They were hard to control
and so many of them were required that
they proved good deal of a nuisance So
1t is that the British artilleryman re-
joices at the substitution of the elephant
for the bullock. One elephant will draw
long line'of bullocks would have difficulty
In moving at all. Every one of these heavy
batteries which the elephant moves from
place to place consists of four forty
Founders and two six and three-inch how
itzers. While one elephant can draw. N
necessary, a single piece of artillery in
order not to strain him at all they are
sometimes paired or driven tandem For
instance, in such battery as the one tust
described, twelve elephants are utilized
These are not all employed in drawing
the artillery at the same time, for IL ia
well not to work an elephant too hard.
because, II that is done, he is apt to be-
come stubborn, despite his usual tracfa-
biity For this reason the elephants are
given kindly usage and under those cir
cumstances do all that is asked of them.
The elephant battery, or rather the guns
thereof Is always accompanied by ammu-
milton wagons and baggage. Owing to the
fact that the supply of properly trained
elephants Is limited, bullocks are still util-
lied as the beasts of draught for the bat
terry accompaniment. The fact that 262
bullocks are required to draw the ammuni-
ton and are required to draw the ammu-
milton and baggage forms a striking con-
trast between their powers and those OF
the elephants, for the gross weight Of the
ammunition and the baggage is infinitely
less than that of the artillery itself. The
British artillerymen do not attempt TO
To accomplish this task there is employed a
STAFF of twelve mahouts, with twelve as
sistants, the latter being under the COM
maild of an official known as Jemadar. or
captain. All are natives of India. Then.
beside the elephant company, as IL Is cali
ed there are with each battery a Jemadar,
six sirdars and one hundred and thirty
one drivers, who care for the bullocka
Therefore, 1t can be seen that a battery
Of artillery in India amounts 70 something.
In fact, IL Is a little army In itself, for
every one Of the natives employed IL sup
posed to be competent and ready to fight
IL necessary.
Whenever Il happens that the battery
Is TO be transported a great distance the
railroad is used as an aid, II It can pos
sibly be made available. In such cases
1t Is necessary, of course, TO transport the
elephant by rail- and special cars have
been made for the purpose. These care
are in appearance like the ordinary coal
car on an American railroad, the sides be-
ing about one-hah the hight OF a box car.
At the end of the car is a small house
In appearance, with one end omitted. In
this little house sits the mahout. or at
tendant of the elephant, who sees that
during the journey he does not become
frightened, and has no opportunity OF in
juring himself Over the rest of the car
is a framework. There are three steel
posts at each side. Running lengthwise
Of steel Of about the size OF the ordinary
pine board.
AT the end. blocking up an opportunity
Of egress, are two small steel beams OF the
size Of the scantling. From the highest
OF the sections OF steel on the side rises
a thin piece of steel to a hight which
carries II Just clear of the elephant. Run
ming from the top OF these small pieces
OF steel in the form of the letter v IL
another steel section. and the whole pre-
vents the elephant from rising or sitting
down. He must either lie down entirely
or stand up straight. Straight across the
car and attached to the lower section OF
steel on the sides is a big beam that keeps
the elephant from being thrown against
the end of the car by sudden jolt. En-
trance and exit from the car are made
by means OF a heavy platform. In this
way the elephant is able TO move by means
OF the railroad from place to place with
out fear or injury.