Among Soldier Elephants

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 69, 15 December 1931, Page 30 (Supplement)

Among Soldier Elephants

By Captain

Graham Archibald Hope

In India, at one time, elephants were heed to draw batteries of artillery. J served with such a battery and learned that Hath!, as we call her In India, fs in some ways a fine, and in some Ways a terrible, soldier. I say “her,” because we used only cow elephants. Bulls are far too uncertain of temper (to be used for draft ' By far the queerest fact about elephants is that the great majority never have seen a man, except „to run away from him, till they are full grown. Yet in spite of being one of the shyest of animals in the wild, Hathl needs no more than a year’s jgentling and training to become a peaceful, hard-working friend of man. But temperamental. While a cow (elephant is ordinarily more gentle than (a horse, she may become annoyed, and [then the results are startling. I knew one gigantic cow, Sylvia by name, who inade up her mind that railroad travelling was not for her. ’Special trucks are provided on Indian railways for elephants, and into one of these Sylvia (was led. She was perfectly quiet till 'the truck was fastened up. Then she [lifted up her attendant and placed him yontslde, after which, without effort or (burry, she smashed the truck to match- j Ijwood and stepped out of the ruins! We realised at once that she had [handed her man out so that he might loot get hurt. The railway made two more trucks, especially for her. But 1 ffiylvia preferred travelling on her own : licet, and In the game of railway com- - •©any versus Sylvia, Sylvia wou. Elephants are useless under fire, be- , ‘ 1 cause they are subject to panic. Of nothing are they so afraid as of the 1 .Binging of bullets, unless it be a small ' !dog, or, worse still, a mouse. I know of ’ ■a case in which the flank elephant of a (battery was frightened by a stray bul- - let from a range. When one elephant i bolts, the rest will follow. The result 1 ■was a stampede. The white gunners 1

bn the limbers tumbled off at once, but the mahouts stuck to their places. (When they regained control, six or eight miles further on, there was toothing left for the elephants to pull—everything In the six gun carriages had been scattered over the landscape. But normally, cow elephants behave (very well and enjoy using their strength. To see them at their best you must watch them getting the guns [up steep, rocky slopes. Literally, they

(get down to their job, crawling up (particularly bad slopes on their bellies. And they always get the guns up. J never knew an elephant that was a quitter. One hears a lot about elephants’ memories, and not without reason. I [remember a new elephant that joined the battery. After the very first parade, as soon as the elephants had been ■[stripped, she and an old battery elephant who had well over 20 years of service, made a dash at each other, twined their trunks, thumped each I other, and gurgled and squeaked as eletiphants do when they are specially [pleased with life. [Finally, they lumbered off to the water trough, holding ■ (trunks and chattering. If, as the mahouts said, they were old friends, their 'friendship must have dated from jungle

'flays. After 20 years, they had recog<nlsed each other. After all, 20 years Is not a great slice out of an elephant’s life, which runs to well over 100. There was an elephant in our battery known to have been In capltlvlty for 70 years, jvbo showed no sign of falling strength! Elephants show good sense when they fere under medical treatment. Hath! usually knows that the doctor is working to relieve pain. One elephant In a London zoo had an abscess on the jaw, (Which had to be lanced. The first cut, which made him scream with pain and ibolt away, was not enough. The sur[feeon was nervous about making a secbnd Incision. The keeper, however, (knew better, and after petting his charge awhile, told him to come back. Jumbo came, though he was trembling .with fear, and of his own accord put [down his head and allowed the cut to be made. When hot weather comes, you give Elephants a cooling medicine, a pill ieamouflaged with sugar. Usually Hathl bites Into the nasty medicine end spits the pill out. Then two men jnust force her mouth open while a third rams in the pill. Hathl owns herself beaten, and, to judge by the movejnents of her throat, swallows the pill. But watch her. When she thinks no ;tae is looking she turns to blow some lidust at the flies on her flank, and then turns back again, as innocent as you S lease. But mahouts know even more ban elephants, and one of them goes (round to pick up the pill that Hathl ■lias stowed in her cheek till she saw a ifehance to spit It out again. This is ! 'too much for her. She bolts, a mahout (after her. Presently he leads her [track by the ear, yelling blue murder like a naughty child. Then she gives 1 'ln, swallows the pill, opens her mouth io show that it is gone, and then pitches ‘ Into her big flour cakes. The funny thing is that she never ] flakes any real use of her strength. she did, only a locomotive could op- 1 (pose her. Yet a little brown man lugs * feer along much as he would a protest- >

Ing youngster. ' Hathl is sometimes playful, but her s tumour is on a dangerously large scale. {Wc had one elephant in our battery fevho loved a joke. She played one on foie one day. She with other elephants s fed been bathing, and as I was riding I 6n the evening I met them going home. ‘ (They were all feeling good, especially j fche joke merchant, who had no mnn 1 ibn her neck. When I was near the i ffierd she suddenly cocked her ears, i felled up her trunk tight, trumpeted y Jll&e a wild bull elephant, and charged, s

t We didn’t wait for her, my horse and I. Of course she couldn’t catch us, and I don’t suppose she wanted to. What she wanted to do—and did—was ! to scare us stiff and make us run. When I pulled up and looked round, I saw her capering about after the manner of her five-ton kind, waving trunk and laughing. Yes, laughing! An elephant laughs all right, and with a sort of shrill, cackling squeak. Her pals were laughing too. They laughed all the way home, and when I went to see he elephants fed the joke merchant was still chuckling. Elephants can think for themselves, and seem to have a rough code of conduct. The biggest elephant in the battery, Anarkully, was a bad bully. She had thrashed all her companions, except one, called Sooksoondry. She made a special victim of Zlrra, a very small elephant. Managing to get loose one night, she went over to Zlrra and began to hammer her without mercy. Sooksoondry was the one I mentioned as having 70 years of service. She was, perhaps, the strongest cow elephant I ever saw. If a tethered elephant really wants to get loose, she can , generally manage it, and hearing Zlrra’® laments, she got loose and went across to take a hand. She began by butting [ the bully in the ribs, knocking her end- , ways. Then she cut loose and thrash- ■ ed the other elephant into submission, . finally driving her back to her place, t After that Anarkully let the other ele- ; phants alone. I might add that she , was Sooksoondry’s leader, and as she , would always shirk pulling if she ; could, it is quite likely that they had j had words before, which came to a head j in this matter. < Good companions and good workers 1 -^elephants —and though they proved 1 useless under fire, I couldn’t help feel- 1 Ing a pang of regret when they got ] their discharge from the service. <