The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-09-28
MANS WILLING SLAVE.
With Nod the Elephant Will Tusk
Convict or Fondle Babe.

w uO III lIOlu tnItt 10 SlA inOHinSs duu
how tractable the monster becomes,
says a writer in the New York World.
have seen a little European child,
apparently four years old, go up con
fidingly to one. which saw what she
wanted and, lifting her up with its
trunk, placed her gently on its back.
Under the old Hiudoo Rajas, when
elephants were made to put criminals
to death, an elephant would be stand
ing still among a number of people,
when a criminal would be brought up
and the order given. In moment.
without hesitation, the elephant would
throw him up into the air or rend
him in pieces or tread him under foot
or thrust his tusk through him, ac-
cording TO the order given.
Yet these tremendously powerful
creatures will take punishment from
their keepers as patiently as a dog
will from it's master. Every driver
carries heavy. pointed Iron hook,
with which he will strike his ele-
phant on the head till the thick hide
breaks IL it is disobedient. When an
elephant Is utterly refractory spear
is thrust into tender parts of its skin.
But one of the commonest, most
advantageous uses of the giant ami.
mails is to set them stacking heavy
timber. They not only go 10 ana FRO
carrying logs TO a pile, but push each
log up and down till IL lies even with
the rest. A wag, noticing how per
fectly straight log was laid on log, de-
clared that he saw the elephant close
one eye and look along the line.
The obedience of elephants to
spoken orders is instantaneous.
have been on the back of an elephant
going through a jungle when a small
horn which some deer had shed lay
on the path. The native driver, who.
as usual, sat on the elephants neck,
without making any sign, simply said:
Give me that" The elephant heard
him, saw the unusual object and,
without stopping. picked it up and
threw 1t over its head into my hands.
Elephants have been employed for
war, for labor, for ceremony, for hunt
ing and for show. The first use
passed away with the introduction of
firearms; and the Improvement of
roads in India Is doing away with the
use of elephants for labor. When
roads were bad, as they always were
under former governments, heavy
baggage could not be carried nor
heavy guns dragged without ele-
plants.
Tiger shooting will always be safer
with elephants; and in some places
could not well be done except on an
elephant, which enables the hunter
to see over the tall bushes and rank
grass that densely cover the ground.
Most native chiefs and mobiles still
consider IL necessary for their dig
nifty to keep one or more elephants,
but they do not use them habitually,
as they did; for ancient customs and
fashions are fast dying out in Indra,
and those of Europe are being adopt.
ed instead. Elephants are still rid.
den in procession on great occasions,
however, and are often obligingy
lent to foreign tourists who want the
lONtllA VI an tltpnhIil Iluts
Elephants used to be common in all
the wild forests OF India, but the
spread of cultivation has caused them
TO disappear from all parts except
Nepal, Assam, Bengal and certain for
ests of the south.
| predict day when tourist agen-
cies will keep an elephant or two for
the qualification of their patrons, aa
an elephant ride will not be otherwise
obtainable. In the places ! have men,
toned their destruction Is strictly for.
bldden, and their capture is a gov.
ernment monopoly-of the British
government in British India and the
native government in Independent
states.
Although elephants would soon he
exterminated but for this law, theft
freedom Is occasionally a sore yexa.
tion TO farmers, planters and cultlva-
tors, and even to owners of flower
gardens. The proprietor is awakened
from sleep by the crashing Of
branches, and though he may scare
the depredators off (Which Is easily
done) by shouting, waving a light or
firing a gun, he finds I'm the morning
that his crops have been wasted, his
fruit trees broken, his garden tram.
pied down and perhaps his outhouses
wrecked.
The old-fashioed method of catch.
ing elephants was to dig pitfalls in
their way, the top being loosely GOV.
cred with bamboos and grass or
leaves. When an elephant fell into
one Of these 1t was left without food
for two or three days. Loops OF stout
rope were then put around its neck
and feet firm above, and the other
ends of the ropes were fastened TO
trees. Wood and stones were next
thrown into the pit, the elephant ris,
ing as the bottom was raised and the
ropes being drawn tighter, until the
pit was full enough to permit the ele-
phant to step out.
This method with pitfalls was very
cruel and sometimes resulted in thu
death of one elephant out of two
Even II the bottom of the pit were
covered with a deep layer of brush