ABOUT ELEPHANTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

ABOUT ELEPHANTS.

Tliev aiv used for civil purposes also especially in Eastern India, where the.? are invaluable for timber hauling, bridge-building, and forest-clearing, and are occasionally put to the plough, to say nothing of their use to sportsmen, when, mounted on their backs, they go forth to shoot the lordly tiger —a sport much enjoyed by our Kmg when he visits his Eastern Kmni e. The elephants of the Rangoon timber yank are one of the most picturesque features of Oriental life, and Have gained a world wide reputation for 'heir cleverness. It is wonderful to wa* h tli.v. great beasts piling the neavv logs evenly and neatly, each heap < put.r.'iuig exactly the right amount. As the stranger looks on he may b P startled to feel something moving in his pocket , and. on putting down his hand, find an elephant's trunk searching to s.ee if he has a piece of cake or sugar hidden there. He will be still more astonished to soo how, at the sound of the dinner bell, all the animals at once stop work and refuse to do another stroke till their hour of rest is over. They appear to be a hi" to count horn's and days in their heads. A story is told of an ele pliant working on a plantation, whose mahout or driver, askel for a week's leave. Tt was granted, and, ere going, he handed his elephant over to another driver, telling it to obey him for the seven days he would b 0 av, ay. '"Hathi" seemed to understand, and did his work as well under the new master as the old. ti'l the morning of the eighth day canr* and his own mahout had failed to turn tip. He tiien went on strike and refused to work. Hearing of this, the European manager came down to beat him, but had to beat a hasty retreat instead, for the animal charged him furiously, p.nd no one could do anything with him until the return of his own mahout. —From "The Wisest of Animals," in the Januarv issue of " I.ittlo Folks."