of water running through them, though their beds are mostly of considerable breadth, very heavy for draught, and abounding in quicksands. It happened that an artilleryman, who was seated on the tumbrill of one of the guns, by some accident fell off, in such a situation that, in a second or two, the hind wheel must have gone over him. The elephant which was stationed behind the gun, perceiving the predicament in which the man was, instantly, without any warning from its keepers, lifted up the wheel with its trunk, and kept it suspended till the carriage had passed clear of him*. "" Examples such as these, and many more that might be adduced, would lead us to conclude, although it may be presumptous to differ from one who has experience as a warrant for his opinions, that the sentence which a recent traveller has pronounced upon the sagacity of the elephant is somewhat hasty and prejudiced. Mr. Crawfurd says66 The courage and sagacity of this animal have been as much exaggerated as its modesty. Its bulk, its strength, and its trunk, are its great recommendations, especially the latter. If man has been called the wisest of animals, because he possesses hands, the elephant may, with as much truth, be called the wisest of quadrupeds, because he possesses a trunk. But for this instrument, and its great strength, I think it doubtful whether it would be ranked higher, in intellectual endowments, than a despised animal of the same natural family-the hog." That man has any right to be called the wisest of animals, because he possesses hands, is easily contradicted; for if the possession of hands were any measure of wisdom, the monkey, who has four, would be twice as wise as the man. The hog may possess as high intellectual endowments as the elephant-but we have yet no evi

*Twelve Years' Military Adventure.

dence of such a fact. The elephant is very much his superior in general docility (for learned pigs are rare wonders), and the possession of great docility is generally an evidence of a high degree of intelligence.

It is not an unfrequent circumstance in India for a domesticated elephant to escape to the wild herd; and several who have thus thrown off the subjection of their masters have been retaken, after an absence of months, and even of years. This fact has been stated, by very competent observers, as an evidence against the sagacity of the animal. It appears to us only to prove that those who formerly asserted that it was not possible, by any art, to entrap an elephant a second time, were mistaken in this, as in many other notions, of the habits of this quadruped. There are two interesting accounts of elephants who had thus escaped, and were retaken, given by Mr. Corse in the Philosophical Transactions for 1799. In one instance, a female who had twice escaped, after having been perfectly domesticated as a riding elephant, was taken in the keddah as usual. She was easily recollected; for she seemed perfectly reconciled to her situation, attended to her name, came to the side of the keddah when called, ate from the hands of the hunters, and at last knelt down when she was directed. In another case, that of a male who had escaped about eighteen months, the animal was furious when retaken in the keddah, and in every respect appeared as wild and outrageous as the other elephants. At length an old hunter boldly rode up to him, he having been previously recognized, and ordered him to lie down, pulling him by the ear. The animal seemed quite taken by surprise, and instantly obeyed the word of command. The habit of obedience was stronger than the habit of liberty. These elephants had escaped upon some sudden im

pulse;-one was frightened at coming upon a tiger's track. They were retaken, because they did not separate themselves from their companions who were

pursued by the hunters. Even this circumstance does not appear to disprove the general sagacity of the animal; for the individual recollections which these elephants retained of their state of captivity might not be unpleasant ones. One thing is certain, that their habits of obedience were not eradicated by their long absence from servitude. They yielded themselves, without any continued resistance, to the control of their old masters :-and all that it may be necessary to shew of the domestic habits of the animal is comprised in his docility. That, it seems, cannot be changed by time or absence-by the pleasure of freedom or the fear of servitude. Without this readiness and constancy of obedience, how, indeed, could the elephant have ever been subdued, or how could he be retained in subjection?

Warren Hastings, the governor-general of India, possessed an elephant which had been ten years absent from the rule of man. His keeper being dismissed, he was refractory to all others who attempted to control him; and at length escaped to the wild herd. After the long interval we have mentioned, his old keeper recognized him in a keddah, and he instantly submitted himself to him. Mr. Zoffany painted the portrait of this animal; and in the key to his published print of a tiger-hunt, vouches for the authenticity of this account *.

*The preceding cut is from Mr. Zoffany's print. The instrument which the animal carries with his trunk is described as a cow-tail with a silver handle, which elephants of rank bear for driving off the flies.

EMPLOYMENT OF ELEPHANTS IN THE EAST.-TRAVELLING.-SPORTS.

"THE Dutch East India Company," says Thunberg, "make use of elephants every where, to transport beams and other heavy articles *." Such an employment as this of the vast strength of the elephant is one of the most obvious modes of rendering him useful. That strength would naturally be applied, without much discrimination, to all cases where extraordinary force was required, in a state of society when the power of machinery was imperfectly understood, and under governments that were indifferent to the cost of maintaining a large stud of these animals. In this manner Kublai Khan covered an artificial hill with full-grown trees, removing them on the backs of elephants. "Not far from the palace, on the northern side, and about a bow-shot distance from the surrounding wall, is an artificial mound of earth, the height of which is full an hundred paces, and the circuit at the base about a mile. It is clothed with the most beautiful evergreen trees; for whenever his majesty receives information of a handsome tree growing in any place, he causes it to be dug up, with all its roots and the earth about them, and, however large and heavy it may be, he has it transported by means of elephants to this mount, and adds it to the verdant collection t." What an oriental despot accomplished, with the most profuse ex*Travels, iv. 245. Marco Polo, book ii. chap. 6.