The sun., 1902-06-15
THE AFRICtN ELEPHANT.
Efforts tn Tame and Wake siim Isefui
for Draught and arrtage PurpOacs.

The nead ~ animals to serve n boasts of
burden in Africa Ia becoming more and
morc pressing with the extension OF white
enterprises there. Horscs. cattle. mules
and donkeys are adapted only to . limited
extent. to b- useful In tropical Africa, and
even in tho more temperate parts 81 the
continent. the prevalence ~ the tsetse Nv,
whose hi'" Ia fatal to domestic animals
makes /, impossible 20 employ them In the
work Of 'he country. The camel IL the
ship Of the desert. . and will always he II
great service In the cumm.rcs of the
sahara: but the carmel Il useful only In the
dryer parts % the continent. An attempt
was made. number Of years ago. to intro
duce camel. into tho transpor, service of
tropical Africa A numbrr of csrnels were
loaded with trade goods on the coast oppo-
site Zanzihar and started inland for Lake
Tangnnyika, $40 miles from the Indian
Ocean. Tie experiment was dismal
failure. not ono Of the animals living 10 49,.
th" waters of the inland hikes Another
artemp, with camel. FUR her north, along
the rana River. VIA equally unsnccessful.
In fact. the camel l. useless in the moist
hot regions Of equatorial Africa.
Railroads, to L. sure, are penetra rating
wv ffhlNuf'lA W htlhAl tANfTI. but II -
various Industries Of Africa require do
mestic animals Just as W. need them IN
enormous numl~rs, IN spite Of tho fact that
We have wonderful nat work 81 railroads
IL I. great disadvantage to African enter
pri-"s To have 70 rly on human prr,erage
b.taus~ IL s 'he most expensive form Of
transportation and th~rr are very nv com
mo,iii~s that can stand so costlv form Of
carriage
Thc-> arr 'hs chief rcernn. whv, IN the
past few vars, attention las h~en directed
elephant and u-ins him a. domestic AMI
mai " has long tsSn ass'rei that the
African variety cannot b. reduced TO eer-
Nitude like his AsiatiC brother, The fact
T. vel knuOh, however, that the ancicn,s
mad" large ~" of the African elephant as
t-ast 81 burden, particularly for war
PURPOSES. som. progress il now being
made toward the dom-stication Il tho AMI
nal and high hoTrs arr entertained In
France and IN other countries Interested
that th" exp.rienc-' which the trainers In
Africa ar" acquiring every war will place
the work on a scientific basis t-,for- q very
gr'at while and that the elephant may
gradually To- adapted 10 serve many u~'ftil
PURPOSES
Thus far ,h. results arr small According
TO our present Information tharr are. to-
dav, jur elev-n dorn,-tic elephants Ia
Africa ON" y them. 'lr firs of the srries.
IL in IN" French Congo. 'hr'~' are in the Cor
man tamoroonsthres IN the belgian Congo.
oIr isM No~.afo~ie. in Portu sus-e tenn
tory, and thru are In AytrsiniA. two Of
them belonging 20 Emperor Menelek
An interesting l~',~r written by " du
Boure No Ro,as in charge of the French
Mission s"r' 10 Ahyssinia. q while ago, has
ln-t ts-~n published IN - Tsur du Monde.
He tolls ~ tho capture and tam ing II a
Young elephant 'h~rr n one Of his hunts
b" kille'l fonInlc elephant A few nrnu'cs
later, hcr Young oTspring, coming 90 ss,ek
h"r. was captured The rapidity with which
he tsNcame accustomed 20 the pr.eAnce of
mon and lcarn'd 20 trust them wac re-
rnarkal~ Within an hour after no wns
'1''ursi all sgrs ~ fear diSappaarcd and
~" l'tl" animal WI. easily lcd 20 the camp
A. De- plainly manifested a preference for
ono - ho mon vliu vas clad In rcd cot,o on.
'hi- vir'dlv ""lor~l '~s'l" wn. used there
after ~ nfnc'or ~ his education Rel co,-
ION ssctn'd 20 hav" a hypnotic "ffc'' upon
him lie would follow anyone dres@ssi in
nj all dav long ss do~l~lv A. q dog After
the firs' hour ~ his capture ~ never mani
Tested 'h~ slichice' 'rto~ ~ fear or anv in
H. shor', ~" was \ eo~d l'''e elephant,
For thr"c months hs marched with tho
psrty. docile ard cor'ented and on easy
and familiar terms with everybody Tho
expedition unfortunately, vas compelled
for eight davs 20 travel through a reg on
that was destitute of water and had the
scant cs' ~ h"rllag~ Tho marches vcrr
necessarily for, 81 and tho roor little ole
phani had litth~ opportunity 10 rest III"
result was that I've sucCumtrd to th''sr trv-
ing conditions. In view 20 the cafp With
which hc vas thoroughly doncSi iCaied las
master expresses the opinion that " II not
nj all diffiCult To tame elephants which are
thinks that older animals have usually