New-York tribune., 1908-09-20
DoMEsT1CATIoN OF ELEPHANTS.
Farming Experiments Being Carried On IN
the African Congo.

In forwarding a report by Vice-Consul General
Lucien Memminger the experiments being made
at Api to domestcate and tram elephants for
transport service Consul General James A Smith,
Bona says that the question of transport is one
of the most difficult with which the Congo ad-
ministration has to deal. and the report seems OF
great interest in showing that the African ele-
phant heretofore of value only for his ivory, may
in future contribute in no small to solu
ton of the problem in regions difficult of access by
other The report reads:
Experiments in the domestication and training Of
elephants in the Congo Free State indicate that
they be used to advantage for porterage work
in regions where the opening up of the country is
most difficult because of lack of transportation
facilities Contrary to the general belief that Cen
trail African elephants could be tanned and
fellows in India. bulletin issued by the Congo
government announces the complete success of ex-
IN the Cele district in the northern section Of the
Here a small heard of young elephants has been
after much effort in training them satisfactory re-
suits have been obtained. The director of the ele
pe4Aents demonstrate that the African elephant
can YVe In captivity, and that by good treatment
oldest members of the elephant farm at Api execute
the porterage and traction work of the station.
with loads Some draw wagonettes. and others are
trained to draw the plough.
old Old and since the the Indian elephants are most eff,
better results may be looked for. Mortality
among the elephants newly captured has been
great. and yet it has not been possible to at
tempt to breed them in captivity. but experience is
solving the problem of domestication: the deaths
being added. With a beginning thus made the
scope of the work at Api will doubtless be enlarged
and eventually. 1t is expected. elephant caravans
will be established Success in the undertaking
Despite railroads and steamboat lines the Congo
will always be country of forests and of savannas
intersected with swamps.
European stock does not survive in the tropical
heat, and native carriers can be employed only
the tse-tse fly; it can ford the most steeply EN-
banked ana rapid streams and of still greater
Importance, can cross the swamp lands encoun-
tered so frequently in the upper Congo and so
lines of communication to the regions so difficuit
of access and to supplement the regular CONNER
They should be of even greater value to the white
man penetrating Central Africa than in the jungles
Probably in part of Africa are elephants found
in greater number than in the basin of the Congo.
Recoilng before the advance of civilization. herds
which once thfckly occupied all the humid coun-
gion from II degrees north latitude southwark
are now thinning or else gathering in regions mac
many parts of the Congo. though not easily found
While hunters must obtain. cost of 500 francs
!S96 5o) permit for killing them as game or for
hunter is limited. as well the time validity of
the permit. Natives must also obtain permission
TO kill them BY these provisions wholesale sIaugh-
ter is in a measure checked. and the supply OF
ivory thus partially preserved But for the per-
of the species The experiments in domestcation at
by closely studying the habits and characters
tics of Central African elephants in the work
the Ap farm much information of scientific value
about the comparatively little known Congo variety
was obtained In the region of vast plains cut by
rivers and swampy streams of the Uele district the
elephants thrive They live especially in the
marshy regions. feeding the grass Of the plans
in the early morning and returning to the shelter
or nearby forests when the suns rays warm.
Rarely are the solitary rogue elephants met in
the Congo The African species are found gen
orally In families of three to six individuals. but
troops of twenty, thirty hundred individ-
uals not and witnesses even affirm that
troops of several hundreds exist.
stunning and rule fleeing at his
proach, the African elephant when attacked often
shows fight and is dangerous prey. Congo speci-
mems have to marked degree the characteristics
which distinguish them from the species OF Asia.
These. to outward appearance are particularly the
form of the skull and the very large ears. The
latter even stretch back beyond the neck and
part Of the flank. In color Congo elephants
are of grayish blue. almost satelike tint. No
has reported seeing specimens OF the
sacred white elephant OF India here. In size Congo
elephants have been killed more than fourteen
feet high at the withers and reckoned at more
than eight tons in weight Tusls obtained are
sometimes than two hundred pounds IN
weight and six feet and half in length"