Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-15
TEACHING ELEPHANTS.
The Tall, Fat Legged, Small Eyed Kind
the Best Pupils.

The Tall, Fat Legged, Small Eyed Kind
the Best Pupils.
On a number Of points all elephant
trainers agree, says Appleton's Mag
zine. These are, first, that the tall
fat legged small eyed elephant of big
girth is not only the handsomest, but
also the most docile and intelligent of
his kind; second. that an elephant is
fully aware Of his prodigious strength,
compared with mans and that the rea-
son an elephant obeys his master is
not because he is afraid of him, but
because he has an affection for him;
third, you may beat bad elephant
to death or kill him by ramming red
hot irons down his throat in an effort
to press the "squeal Of surrender out
Of him, but the one and only way to
train an elephant to perform tricks is
through kindness and patience unend-
ing; last. but not least, without ex-
ceptio:' the int.Jt. sence of the elephant
far exceeds that If any other animal.
Elephant trainer. maintain that train.
ing an elephant to perform is like
teaching boy circus riding, only less
difficult.
A number OF the simpler tricks with
which an elephant entertains his au-
dience come as natural to him as the
tapping of milk comes to a Gator
instance, the blowing of the mouth
harmonica
Twenty feet to the right or to the
left Of the candidate to be taught to
lie down four heavy stakes are driven
Into the ground, and from each of
these runs block and tackle con-
Meeting with each leg and manned By
ten or dozen men. When all is
ready the trainer stands in front of
the animal, raises his hook and s'Down!
Down. he orders. The elephant pays
no attention. He stands waving
his trunk and swaying his body from
side to side. "Down! Down. shouts
the trainer again, and upon signal
some forty men begin to heave and
tug, the blocks squeak, the ropes
creak, and while the trainer continues
shouting his command the pachy-
derm's legs begin to be drawn from
under him. With scalp raising trum-
pct, the startled creature begins to
struggle. flashing with his trunk from
side to side and cropping with it's tip
against the floor, frantically seeking
for hold to steady himself, but the
relentless ropes continue to draw his
legs. The huge beast leans at for
bidding angle. believing like a herd
OF steers and drowning the "Down!
Down." Of the trainer. The great body
begins to totter. For an instant it re-
gains it's balance; then 1t falls. crash
ing with a dull thud on to the bed of
straw. Trumpetdng like the screech
out Of d cracked steam calliope, the
brute tries yainly to struggle to his
feet, until at the end Of three or four
minutes he begins to realize that moth
ing SO very startling has happened and
that really he ought to feel very COM
Portable indeed.
TO teach him to stand on his head
the trainer again uses the block and
tackle. To forestall the effects. Of a
bad fall the floor Of the training stable
is thickly Uttered with straw. Then
the candidate is harnessed with chains
and the bellyband and block and tackle
as he was when learning to rear, the
difference being that the chains from
under the belly lead between the hind
instead of between the foreregs, so
that the headquarters instead of the
forequarters may be raised.