[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Les six voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier) › [Travels in India (Ball)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball) › 149.2.5 # Travels in India (Tavernier) 149.2.5 Travels in India (Ball) 149.2.5 - **Language:** English ### [149.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2.5) but since the Portuguese have been in India he has derived no profit from either. As for the elephants, that is a small matter, for only five or six are captured in a year; but at the same time those of Ceylon are more highly esteemed than all the elephants of other countries, because they are more courageous in war; and there is not a King in India who does not desire to have one. There should be related here a thing which it is possible one may have a difficulty in believing, but it is nevertheless quite true; it is that when any king or noble possesses one of these Ceylon elephants, and when there is brought into its presence some other one from the places where the merchants obtain them, as Achin, Siam, Arakan, Pegu, the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Kingdom of Assam, the territories of Cochin and the coast of Melinda, as soon as these latter elephants see one of Ceylon, by a natural instinct they pay it reverence by placing the ends of their trunks on the ground, and then elevating them. It is true that the elephants which the great nobles keep, when brought before them to be examined whether they are in good condition, make a sort of salute thrice with their trunk. This I have often seen ; but they are trained to it, and their masters teach them to do so when young. - [Previous: 149.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2.4) - [Next: 149.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2.6) - [Up: 149.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.tavernier~en-ball.149.2.5) · Pramāṇa