The menageries : quadrupeds, described and drawn from living subjects.

Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The menageries : quadrupeds, described and drawn from living subjects. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    attendants of the elephant practise a somewha ludicrous mode of assisting1 the command of the driver. “ While the elephant is going on, a man walks by his side, telling him where to tread, bidding him ‘ take care,’—‘ step out,’ warning him that the road is rough, slippery, &c., all which the animal is supposed to understand, and take his measures accordingly This assistance to the mohout is probably, in most cases, an unnecessary parade, arising from the almost infinite division of labour in Hin- dostan. But the practice of addressing the elephant in this manner proceeds from the general belief that he understands what is said to him. This belief is, of course, carried to a ridiculous excess in many in- stances ; and it has even been accompanied by a no- tion that he can speak, as in the case of the elephant described by Christopher Acosta :—At Cochin, accord- ing to this writer, there was an elephant that worked at the port with all the skill of a human labourer. One day, w hen he was much fatigued, the governor of the port desired him to assist in launching a boat. The elephant refused; and the man of authority, having in vain employed all his caresses, commanded him to do it in the name of the King of Portugal. The loyal beast, it is added, instantly replied, “ I will, I will,” and performed his task. This story may explain some of the old fables of the elephant speaking ; for, in the Malabar language, “ I will,” is expressed by “ hoo,”—a very natural sound for an elephant to make, not upon the invocation of the King of Por- tugal, but upon the more effectual stimulus of the blow which probably accompanied the utterance of the magical name. Mr. Williamson says, that “ elephants, after being some time in training, ac- quire a perfect intelligence regarding particular