Storia do Mogor 263: [144] About Elephants.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 263
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[144] About Elephants.
263.1.1
As I have promised to speak about elephants, I will give a brief account of them, but it will not be what some of the ancients wrote. What I am to relate is founded on true information obtained from various hunters of these animals, and also from what I have seen. I shall speak of their manner of engendering, their birth, and the means by which they are captured in various places ; how to domesticate them with ease, and other matters. All the grandees in the Mogul country are desirous of owning them, simply to be able to say that they are lords of such-and-such a number of elephants.
263.1.2
These animals, when they desire to approach the female, show it by certain signs. They discharge from holes near the ears a black and very fetid oil. [The author enters into further details which I do not reproduce.] Ordinarily, elephants live in herds, where there are one hundred and fifty, two hundred, and up to three hundred. All accompany the female, while the elephants of other neighbouring herds withdraw on hearing the cries of the female about to bring forth. Should any of them remain, the male elephants belonging to the herd of the said female attack them and kill them. After delivery, they remain in that jungle for some days until the young one can travel ; at its birth it is the size of a calf three months old. The mother runs her trunk over it until it is cleansed and quite dry, then she helps it up with her trunk. It feeds by passing between the legs of its mother to her teats, stretches out its little trunk along the mother's stomach, and sucks the milk with its mouth. In this way it is reared for two years, and the third year the mother becomes pregnant again. The infant elephant grows four inches every year, but it grows no more when it gets to twelve feet (covados, literally ' cubits ' ?) ; and usually they reach one hundred years of age.
263.1.3
The mode of hunting the elephant is in Cochin as follows : They make large pits on the paths over which the animals pass, as recognised by their footmarks. Then they put sticks, straw, and earth over these pits, so that the elephant cannot discover them. Passing from one place to another, they fall into the pit, and there they are left for some days, giving them very little food. On finding that from hunger the animal is more gentle, they begin little by little to fill up the pit to a height which enables a man to mount on the elephant. Its feet are bound by heavy iron chains ; then, in company of domesticated elephants, it is removed somewhere else, after which it readily becomes submissive. In Ceylon elephants are hunted in another way. In the forests where the elephants go to and fro they clear some ground of the large trees standing on it, making a sort of half-moon, which is palisaded everywhere, leaving in the middle a very narrow entrance. On both sides of this they plant strong stakes close together in form of a stockade. This is covered over with leafy branches, as also the end of the stockade, all well fixed on.
263.1.4
These preparations made, they let loose a domesticated female elephant anointed with a certain oil. She goes to find the elephants. These, attracted by the scent of the oil, follow in her wake until she reaches the half-moon. There she pauses and waits for the arrival of all the elephants dwelling in that wood. Finally, the female moves very slowly into the passage, and all the assembled elephants follow her. Thus, when they are once inside, they are driven in so that they can neither advance nor turn their bodies round. This effected, the hunters go to the farther door, and the domesticated female follows. The wild elephants are stopped by heavy beams, so that the female is let go free and they are prisoners. Jumping into the enclosure, the elephant-drivers mount the captives and tame them, which is ordinarily done by force of hunger and blows. Heavy iron chains and ropes are put upon their feet. One by one they are withdrawn from their prison, and a few little ones are released as being useless, all but one here or there that they see by its points will turn out well. Such a one is sold along with the full-grown animals. The very old ones are killed for their tusks. The natives eat the flesh of the trunk, which is held to be dainty food, having the flavour (so they assert) of pork. By the same method they take elephants in the kingdoms of Aracao (? Arakan), Pegu, and Gueda (Quedda).
263.1.5
Usually there are some superstitions involved in these hunts [146]. It happened in Cochin that an elephant fell into one of the pits described, but was able somehow to get out. To preserve himself and not fall in another time, he began to carry a stake in his trunk, with which he probed the earth where he wanted to go. Thus these animals have great discernment, as I have seen and experienced. There was a youth who was a great hunter. Leaving his companions, he penetrated far into the forest, and close to a river he met an elephant. Seeing the danger to his life if he were pursued, he climbed on to a large tree. Coming after the youth, the elephant, in the hope of seizing him, broke off branches and tried hard to knock the tree down. Finding this impossible, it trumpeted loudly, whereupon there came up a female elephant blind of one eye. The two together recommenced pushing at the tree to uproot it. Seeing that the tree did not move, they began to strike at the roots with their feet. But the earth was too hard, and the female was left on guard at the foot of the tree while the male went to the river as fast as he could go to fetch water in his trunk. He emptied it at the foot of the tree and began to strike, so that the tree shook. The poor youth was in a great fright, realizing his danger ;
263.1.6
but noticing that the female was one-eyed, when the male elephant went for more water the youth hastily descended from the tree on the side of her blind eye and scrambled up a larger tree, whence he watched what they were doing, still somewhat perturbed. The two elephants worked at the tree till they had uprooted it. When they failed to find the youth, the male broke off a branch and gave the female a sound beating, and pursuing her, they disappeared. The elephant had continued its efforts from eight o'clock in the morning until two in the afternoon. The youth awaited nightfall, and then set out to find his companions. From that time forth he never attempted again to follow the chase.
263.1.7
In Africa they hunt elephants in different ways, but only to obtain their tusks. Anyone who wishes may go in their pursuit. Two natives of the country go out, each carrying three asseguais in his hand. These are a sort of small spear about five palms in length, with a very sharp head four fingers in breadth. Coming across some elephant with large tusks, one man quickly gets in front, while the other remains in its rear. The man in front comes out in sight of the elephant and cries out. Perceiving him, the elephant attacks, but the hunter flees and hides. At the same moment the man behind flings an asseguai at the beast's belly and gives a cry. The elephant turns and pursues, taking him for the man first seen. The man in front comes out, and does as the other did. They continue doing thus until the elephant falls. The lower portion of the tusk belongs to the lord of the country, and that nearer the head is the hunter's. This was recounted to me by a mulatto called Joao Pereira, who was long at Mozambique, where he saw the Kaffirs entice elephants by magic arts, preventing them from quitting the forest until they had left their tusks behind them. Through the power of magic they struck their tusks on the trees until they fell to the ground, and then the spell was broken and they were able to escape.
263.1.8
It is also said that there was a man whose only livelihood was the sale of wood, which he brought in person [147] from the forest. Going one day on this business, he found a great stack of wood. He was quite astonished at the quantity collected between one day and the next, yet no one else went to collect wood at that spot. When he arrived opposite the wood-pile to bind his bundle, there suddenly came out an elephant who had been hiding behind it, and had collected all the wood. It seized him without hurting him, and lying down on the ground, it showed him one of its feet, in which a great thorn had stuck. The wood-cutter understood that it wanted help, and plucked out the thorn for him. The elephant rose and moved a pace or two, and tried if his foot still hurt him; then, going to the heap, laid hold with his trunk of a quantity of wood, and went off along the road to the man's home. Seeing that the elephant was doing him service, he followed. It went with him to a certain point and deposited the wood on the ground; then, raising its trunk, it stood before the man a moment or two in sign of gratitude, and departed. The wood-cutter went home with his bundle. Next day he went out to his work as usual, and at the same place where he had parted from the elephant he found a large quantity of wood placed there by it. Ever afterwards it left wood at the same spot, and the man was saved the trouble of a long journey for it.
263.2.1
These animals are most grateful, and recognise any benefit done them; they also feel an injury, and when the opportunity arises take a cruel revenge. This have I seen suffered by many an elephant-driver for the ill-treatment he had been guilty of, some because of stealing their food and not giving them their full rations, others for having without cause struck and abused them. It happened to me once that I was attending a princess, entering and issuing by a great courtyard, where I saw collected together her horses and elephants. On my leaving, the princess presented me with some betel leaf. I passed near an elephant, and holding out my hand, offered it the betel leaf. It put out its trunk, took it, placed it in its mouth, and ate it. Every time I came out of the palace it recognised me, and put out its trunk, and I made over to it all the betel I had received. In a short time the princess recovered, and I went no more to the house. A year afterwards I was passing through the city with some horsemen in my train, when an elephant approached me with its trunk raised, and followed me. I cried out angrily to the driver to keep his elephant under control. He answered that the elephant knew me again and wanted betel leaf, to which he had become accustomed on my visits to the princess's house.
263.2.2
One day, coming from the palace, I passed through a street, where I saw many elephants collected before the door of Momencan (Mumin Khan), the official in charge of them. He was seated at the door of his mansion, and seeing me, called to me. I got down from my horse and walked between the elephants, which stood very close to each other. Near the door the space was very narrow, and I could hardly pass. I put my hand on the trunk of a small female elephant to make it give way. It could not move aside, and without my imagining such a thing, it suddenly put its trunk between my legs and deposited me lightly in a shop close by, which was full of gurguris (pottery pipe-heads), from which the Mahomedans smoke tobacco, and as I subsided I heard a great disturbance of cooking-pots, gurguris, and other crockery; though put out at finding myself in such a state, without any turban on my head, I was not hurt in any way. The female elephant put her trunk into her mouth and trumpeted loudly. This was to show she was in fault, but that the crowded position in which she found herself had forced her to take such a course [148].
263.2.3
When Mahabat Khan was governor of Gujarat, he kept many elephants. Among them were some very choice, large, and handsome. The driver in charge of the chief of these elephants (its name was Zalzalah—that is, 'Earthquake') bore a grudge against a greengrocer. To revenge himself, he went past the man's shop, and, halting the elephant, gave it a sign. It set to work with its trunk and scattered the whole of the goods in all directions—radishes, turnips, garlic, onions, lemons, and so forth. In the confusion, a bull belonging to the vegetable-seller, which had been tied up close by, broke its rope and pursued the elephant, prodding it between the legs from behind with its horns. The elephant, not accustomed to such unusual attentions, was terrorized, and without waiting for more, broke into flight, the bull after him. The driver, looking on it as a point of honour, made the elephant pull up and face the foe. Upon this, the bull also halted, and began to paw the ground with his fore-feet, raising a great dust, and bellowing at the same time. This caused the elephant to be still more frightened. It turned and fled; the bull, overtaking it, renewed the attack with its horns. In this way it pursued, until it had ejected the elephant from the city, to the great admiration of the people, who ran to see this singular sight.
263.2.4
Informed of the facts, Mahabat Khan ordered into his presence the bull and the elephant to see this curious thing himself. As soon as the bull saw the elephant, it did as before. Mahabat Khan, too, feeling his honour at stake, wanted the elephant to kill the bull. He ordered other elephants to be called in. One after another made the attempt, but still the bull remained victor. The reader must understand that when the bull saw the elephant approach, he went to attack him, and raising a great deal of dust with his feet, deceived the elephant. In this cloud of dust the bull suddenly got behind the elephant and used its horns. In this way it overcame the elephant. Finding the bull so violent, Mahabat Khan kept it, and gave a present to its owner of two hundred rupees, and he used it to punish any mad elephants that had broken their chains and caused injuries. I saw once, as I was passing along in the city of Lahor, an elephant break its chain, and the elephant-men could not catch it. They let the bull loose, and it, by its cleverness and the use of its horns, drove the elephant back to its place. Mahabat Khan was so pleased with this bull that he gave it the name of 'Chastiser of Elephants.'
263.2.5
They say that formerly there died a King of Arakan without leaving a successor, at a time when the nobles were in discord and each one wished himself to become king. In the end they decided to let the chief royal elephant loose outside the city, and he who should return mounted on it would be made king. After three days the elephant appeared in front of the royal palace with a boy upon his back. The lad was the son of a shepherd; but he was accepted as king.
263.2.6
Among the many elephants owned by the King of Gulkandah, he had one very lofty and superb animal, which the king valued most highly. This elephant formed a great affection for a young girl who lived close to its stable; and every time the elephant was fed with various kinds of grain, cooked food, and sugar-cane, it threw a portion with its trunk to the girl. She, being used to the elephant, would go up to him fearlessly, and would walk beneath him and between his legs without being hurt. The older she grew, the greater was the elephant's affection. Aurangzeb heard that the King of Gulkandah had this fine elephant ; and as he was accustomed to demand all that was best in that kingdom, he directed the king to send it. Unable to make denial, the king ordered the elephant to be sent. When it saw itself outside the city, and knew it was going a long journey, it got out of hand and would not obey the drivers, but returned to its stable. Whenever they began the journey, the same thing occurred [149]. In time they recognised that he would not start, through the affection he bore to the child. On being assured of this, they reported to the king. Orders were given to send the girl with him, also her parents, and then he proceeded on his way without any difficulty. On reaching the Mogul's court the king was told of the affair, and he granted pay for the girl and her parents. The girl when she grew up drove this elephant, and it obeyed her without hesitation.
263.2.7
[150, 151.] I could extend my remarks to greater length on the instinct of these animals, but that would carry me too far, and therefore I will conclude my account with an unusual event occurring in the island of Ceylon. The king of that island was angry with one of his nephews for some trick he had played. He ordered him to be put to death in his own presence by a mad elephant. The elephant advanced towards the victim. The latter cried out at once to the animal, and told it not to kill him. The elephant recognised the voice, because the man had formerly ridden on it, and drew back, raising its trunk as a mark of politeness and respect. At this the king grew angry with the driver, and commanded him to drive the beast forward once more. The victim began to cry out again, saying he relied upon him not to kill him. On seeing that the elephant did not mean to obey, the king stood up and shouted to it; all the same, it did not obey his orders. 'Kill,' said he, 'this traitor forthwith, for such is my will.' At this the elephant, finding itself forced by the king's orders, put his trunk into his mouth, and, shutting his eyes, rushed as quickly as possible at the unfortunate being without touching him with his trunk or his tusks. These are the members with which they are accustomed to kill anyone. But in spite of that it did not fail to take the man's life by crushing him under its feet.
263.3
The Siamese assert that in old days, in the great forests of that kingdom, there appeared a multitude of elephants. Among them there was one of great stature which was quite white in the body, but had orange-coloured tusks and nails. When the king was informed of this, he used all possible exertions for its capture. But all was in vain ; and because he could not be caught, the Siamese called him the ' King of Elephants.' For this reason the King of Siam takes the title of ' Lord of the White Elephant.' Because some other princes dared to assume this title — that is, the Kings of Pegu and Arakan — the King of Siam has fought some cruel wars against them.
[149 resumed.] Since I have spoken of these huge animals, it gives me the opening to speak also of small ones. In the Mogul country is a kind of animal, very finely formed, of about the size of a goat, cinnamon in colour. They are wild, and when over twelve years old the lower half of the body becomes white, and from the horns to the tail the upper half of the body is black. The horns are three palms in length, and twisted like a rope, the points being very sharp. They run with such velocity that no horse can overtake them. The changes of colour referred to occur in the male ; the female remains all her life the same colour. They are called in India haran [i.e., ' deer ']. Usually these animals pass their nights in the woods, and during the day come to graze in the fields. Each male is followed by fifteen to twenty females. When the young male grows up and begins to disquiet the females, the father ejects him from the herd by using his horns ; and the young male lives solitary, as none of the other haran [deer] will allow him to approach. His life is thus passed until he finds himself in full force and vigour. Then he goes in search of the gazelles ; the master of the herd comes out to meet him, and they fight vigorously, the one in defence of his females, the other to acquire them. During the fight, which usually lasts more than an hour, the females draw up in a fright, and do not stir from the spot, looking on at the struggle until it is finished. The victor pursues his opponent till he gets near some similar herd, and there he leaves him, and goes back to find the females. These gather round him, and indulge in springs and jumps to betoken their delight. The same is done by them to the stranger if he wins.
In the Mogul country all the great lords keep these animals in domestication; they are used for fighting, and also to hunt others of the same sort. When used for this purpose, they fix ropes on their horns, and let them loose where there are a considerable number of the wild herds. The male of the herd advances in a rage to repel the intruder, and they begin to fight. In this fight the wild deer gets entangled by the rope, and the hunters capture him and tame him, so that he may serve in the same way to catch others. The females are also used to capture others. When the hunter finds that he cannot reach such animals with his matchlock, he hides himself, and lets loose one of these females in the plain with a slender string attached to its neck. This is done in sight of other deer, who come at once in search of her. At this time the hunter pulls the cord, and the male follows the captured female at the will of the hunter, who then kills with an easy shot. The hunters are so dexterous in this process that when the king goes to the chase they draw the animals under this coercion to the very muzzle of the matchlock. To this intent they raise a shelter of green branches in which are some little holes. This is planted into the ground at the most convenient place. In this way the great men amuse themselves with shooting without undergoing much labour, as I have myself experienced many times.