The Afro-American., 1897-03-27
ELEPHANTS III VAR.
MONSTER BEAsTk ENLISTED IN
THH INDIAN ARTiLLEsKY.
They Move the Zig Gans with Great
est E-An Ira ortant Ad-
Liti8h to the British
Forces I'm India.
LEPHANTS have become cne

"a 14EP HANI5 have become Cne
of the most important adiuncts
of the English army in India.
They are attached = taa az
billery in every sense of the word and
drag the biggest guns as If they were
feathers, keepinga a steady pace with the
tramp, tramp, tramp of the infantry.
Thev are no lagPards at any time and
deep indeed must be the m1re AMI high
The barricade which they cannot walk
through or demolish. In one respect
the elephant in artillery is like Napo-
:eon.-he never knows defeat
The officers and men of the Indian
army have for years been working with
;he idea of making the elephant more
and more useful. At first the big beast
was used on the forti6cations, for
hauling mber, and all kinds of tasks
for which great strength, absolute
obedience and docility were required.
The elephant is not q particularly in
.elligent beast, and, therefore his pro-
gress has been slow along the lines
laid down by the disciples OF Mars.
Now be knows as we'll what to do as
the best posted artilleryman and will
bring his gun 10 the regimental front
with as much precision as the veriest
martinez who wleIds the sword could
desire
The particular use to which the ele-
phant is put in the artillery line in
India, is as beast of draught for the
heavy batteries and for the guns OF
the siege train. These instruments of
war are tremendous in size and ex.
ceedingly heavy. Until the regime
of the elephant, it had been the Gus
tom to have them drawn by long
lines OF bullocke. There was, how
ever, no end of trouble with these
beasts. They were hard to control
and so many Of them were required
that they proved g. good deal of a nui-
sance. So it is that the British artil-
]eryman rejoiees az the substitution of
the elephant tor the, bullock. One
elephant will draw without effort
piece OF artillery which long line OF
Dullocks would have difficulty in NOV
ing at all
Every one of these heavy batteries
which the elephant moves from place
to place consists of four 40-pounders
and two md 3-iuch howitzers.
While one elephant can draw, if nee
essary, single piece of artillery, in
order not to strain him at all they are
sometimes paired or driven tandem.
For instance, in such q battery rs the
one just described, twelve elephants
~
ployed in drawing the artillery at the
same time, ior it is we'll not to work
an elephant too hard, because ii that
is done, he is apt to become stubborn,
despite his usual trRct8billty. Tor
this reason the elephants are given
kindly usuage and. under those cir
cumstanccs do all that IS asked of
them.
The elephant battery, or rather the
Suus &heTe0f, Is ui~"y-s l1cCOupGn1e1
by ammunition wagons and baggage.
Owing to the fact that the supply of
properly trained elephants is limited,
bullocks are still utilized as the beasts
of drau9ht for the battery accompani-
ments. The fact that 262 bullocks
are required to draw the ammunition
and baggage forms a striking contrast
between their powers and those of the
elephants, for the gross weight of the
ammunition aud the baggage is infn-
itely less than that of the artillery it.
self.
The British artillerymen do not at
tempt to manage the big beasts that
draw the guns. To accomplish this
task, there is employed a staff of
twelve mahouts, with twelve assistants,
the latter being under the command
of an official known as lemadar, or
captain. All are natives of India.
Then, besides the elephant company,
as it is called, there are with each bat.
terry q iemadar, six sirdars and 131
drivers, who care for the bullocls.
Therefore, it can be seen that bat
terry of artillery in India amounts to
something. In fact, i is little army
in itself, for every one OF the natives
employed is supposed to be competent |
and ready to fight if necessary.
Whenever 1t happens that the bat
terry Is to be transported a great dis
tauce, the railroad is used as m aid,
ii it can possibly be made available.
In such cases, it Is necessary, of /
course, to transport the elephants by |
rail, aud specint cars have been made
for the purpose. These cars are in
appearance like the ordinary coal car
on an American railroad, the sides
being about ne.half the height Of a
box car. At one end OF the car is a
SINAI! house in appearance, with one
end omitted In this little house sits
the mahont, or attendant of the eie-
phant, who sees that during the
Journey he does not become fright
enel, and has no opportunity of in
juring himself. Over the rest OF the
car is "a framework. There are three
teel posts mt each side. Running
iengthwise amt attached to these are
5wo sections OF steel of about the size
OF the ordinary pine board.
At the end, blocking up an oppor
tuuity OF egres>, are two small steel
beams of the size OF the scantling.
From the highest OF the sections of