Endued with wonderful sagacity, the elephant will only proceed on soils which bear him up to a certain extent: so soon as he feels a peculiar vibration, that indicates a want of firmness below, he instantly declines further progress, and, turning round, or receding, with more activity than his clumsy form may indicate, hastens to quit the apprehended danger; and, without regard to things or persons, makes the best of his way to _terra firma_.
Sometimes, however, this majestic animal gets bogged, and, notwithstanding his immense strength, becomes completely incapable of self-extrication. On such an occasion, nothing more is necessary than to supply him with abundance of straw, or cut grass, tied in bundles; these he forces down with his proboscis, till they are under his feet respectively; and, by their accumulated resistance, afford the means of gradually bearing up, and of raising him to the surface. His egress is ensured by an ample stock of the same materials, together with faggots, &c., thrown before him, in number sufficient to form a kind of path-way, along which the elephant moves with wondrous caution: on such an occasion, he should, like a mule on a mountain, be left to himself, as he will manage with perfect prudence; whereas, if actuated by a _mohout_, (or driver,) he might be again plunged into difficulty.
The stature of elephants, in general, may be rated between seven and nine feet: the former is the standard at which they are admitted upon the Company’s establishment, at the value of five hundred sicca rupees each (£65). Provided the animals be stout, and competent to carry a proper burthen, such blemishes as would depreciate them considerably among the natives, who entertain many prejudices in this particular, are not considered.
The principal defects, in the eye of a native merchant, are,
1. A broken tail; or a deficiency of the forked hair at its termination. The former arises from the habit the elephants are in, of laying hold of their opponent’s tails with their trunks, and of twisting them so, that, occasionally, they are absolutely snapped, or, perhaps, tumefy, and, in the end, sphacelate.
2d. An uneven number of claws to the feet: there should be five on each fore, and four on each hind foot.