Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 19.3.2

19.3.2

The King was ascending the Pire-penjale mountains, the highest of all the mountains, and from which a distant view of the kingdom of Kachemire is first obtained. He was followed by a long line of elephants, upon which sat the ladies in their mikdembers and embarys. The foremost, appalled, as is supposed, by the great length and acclivity of the path before him, stepped back upon the elephant that was moving on his track, who again pushed against the third elephant, the third against the fourth, and so on until fifteen of them, incapable of turning round or extricating themselves in a road so steep and narrow fell down the precipice. Happily for the women, the place where they fell was of no great height; only three or four were killed; but there were no means of saving any of the elephants. Whenever these animals fall under the tremendous burden usually placed upon their backs, they never rise again even on a good road. Two days afterward we passed that way, and I observed that some of the poor elephants still moved their trunks. The army, which had been marching four days in single file through the mountains, was subjected to serious inconvenience by this disaster. The remainder of the day and the following night, were employed in rescuing the women and in saving other matters, and the troops were under the necessity of halting during the whole of that time.