William Temple Hornaday

“ One sees a plant growing beneath the water, and in the soft, oozy bottom, near the edge, are the deep prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull. About the soft, moist earth around the pool, and in the buffalo trail are the foot-tracks of the buffalo that have tramped around the pool, some of those nearest the edge having tilled with water. ”

“ The most striking feature in the education of an elephant is the suddenness of his transition from a wild and lawless denizen of the forest to the quiet, plodding, good-tempered, and cheerful beast of draught or burden. ”

“ We had a most exciting and likewise dangerous chase after the herd through a vast prairie-dog tow., honey-combed with holes just right for a running horse to thrust a leg in up to the knee and snap it off like a pipe-stem, and across fearfully wide gullies that either had to be leaped or fallen into. McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful two year old, or "spike" bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told. This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire hunt. ”

“ While it is generally fruitless and unsatisfactory to enter the field of speculation, I can not resist the temptation to assert my belief that an elephant can be taught to read written characters, and also to express some of his own thoughts or states of feeling in writing. It would be a perfectly simple matter to prepare suitable appliances by which the sagacious animal could hold a crayon in his trunk, and mark upon a surface adapted to his convenience. ”

“ The wild buffalo is practically gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall benefit the surviving species of mammals which are now being slaughtered in like manner, it will be sad indeed. ”

“ But the circumstances in the case are wholly to the advantage of the dog, and against the elephant. While the former roams at will through his master's house and out-door premises, through town and country, mingling freely with all kinds of men and domestic animals, with unlimited time and liberty to lay plans and execute them, the elephant in captivity is chained to a stake, with no liberty of action whatever, aside from eating and drinking, and amusing himself by swaying his body, swinging one foot, or switching his tail. ”

“ A point to which we ask special attention from beginning to end is, that in endeavoring to estimate the mental capacity of the elephant, we shall base no arguments upon any particularly intelligent individual of a given race or species, as is always done in discussions of intelligence in the dog, the cat, the horse, parrot, and ape. On the contrary, it is the intention to reveal the mental capacity of every elephant living, tame or wild, of both the Indian and African species, except a few individuals with diseased minds. ”

“ I am convinced that an elephant could by ill-treatment be driven to insanity, and I have no doubt this has been done more than once in this country.
When commanded by man, the elephant will tear a criminal limb from limb, or crush him to death with his knees, or go out to battle holding a cimeter in his trunk. He will, when told to do so, attack his kind with fury and persistence ”

“ It is at all times an easy matter for even a cowboy to get lost in Montana if the country is new to him, and when there is snow on the ground the difficulty of finding one's way is increased tenfold. There is not only the danger of losing one's way, but the still greater danger of getting ingulfed in a deep coulée full of loose snow, which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish miserably. Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coulées which are level full of snow and hidden from sight. ”

“ Near the cow is a suckling calf, four mouths old. Upon the top of the mound is a "spike" bull, two and a half years old; descending the mound away from the pool is a young cow three years old, on one side, and on the other a male calf a year and a half old. All the members of the group are disposed in natural attitudes. The young cow is snuffing at a bunch of tall grass: the old bull and cow are turning their heads in the same direction apparently, as if alarmed by something approaching; the others, having slaked their thirst, appear to be moving contentedly away. ”

“ There takes place in the keddah, or pen of capture, a mighty struggle between the giant strength of the captive and the ingenuity of man, ably seconded by a few powerful tame elephants. When he finds his strength utterly overcome by man's intelligence, he yields to the inevitable, and accepts the situation philosophically. Sanderson once had a narrow escape from death while on the back of a tame elephant inside a keddah attempting to secure a wild female. She fought his elephant long and viciously, with the strength and courage of despair, but she was finally overcome by superior numbers. ”

“ Diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keogh, 2 miles distant, revealed the fact that no one knew of the presence of any wild buffalo anywhere in the Northwest, save within the protected limits of the Yellowstone Park. All inquiries elicited the same reply: “There are no buffalo any more, and you can't get any anywhere.” Many persons who were considered good authority declared most positively that there was not a live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor anywhere between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. ”

“ In India the elephant bears a spotless reputation for patience, amiability, and obedience, except in the case of such individuals as have been afflicted with insanity, either temporary or permanent. I know of no instances on record wherein an elephant has been guilty of culpable homicide, or even of attempting it. I have never heard of an elephant in India so much as kicking, striking, or otherwise injuring either human beings or other domestic animals. ”

“ In the mind of the elephant, e.g., each elephant, there was no confusion of ideas, but, on the contrary, a mental grasp on the whole subject, so secure and courprehensive that the animal felt himself master of the situation.
I have never yet seen a performance of trained dogs which could be considered worthy of serious comparison with the accomplishments of either performing or working elephants. In the matter of educational capacity the dog can not on any grounds be considered the rival of the elephant. ”

“ Two days later, when we were on the spot with the wagon to skin our game and haul in the hides, four more buffaloes were discovered within 2 miles of us, and while I worked on one of the large bull skins to save it from spoiling, the cowboys went after the buffalo, and by a really brilliant exploit killed them all. The first one to fall was an old cow, which was killed at the beginning of the chase, the next was an old bull, who was brought down about 5 miles from the scene of the first attack, then 2 miles farther on a yearling calf was killed. ”

“ In endeavoring to determine the mental status of the dog, horse, cat, ape, or elephant, or even human beings, the average intelligence of all the members of an entire species, or at least an entire race, should be the objective point of the inquiry.
Under the head of intellectual qualities we have first to consider the elephant's
Powers of Independent Observation and Reasoning, or Reasoning from Cause to Effect. ”

“ The four months' old calf was captured alive and brought to this city. It lived for some days in the Smithsonian grounds, but pined for its prairie home, and finally died. It is around the great bull that the romance and main interest of the group centers. ”

“ The extreme difficulty in teaching a dog of mature age even the simplest thing is so well known that it has passed into a proverb: "It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." In other words, the conditions must be favorable. What is the case with the elephant? The question shall be answered by Sanderson. In his "Wild Beasts of India," he says: "Nor are there any elephants which can not be easily subjugated, whatever their size or age. The largest and oldest elephants are frequently the most easily tamed, as they are less apprehensive than the younger ones." ”

“ At this point the hunt began. As the wagon and extra horses proceeded up the Sand Creek trail in the care of W. Harvey Brown, the three cowboys and I paired off, and while two hunted through the country along the south side of the creek, the others took the north. The whole of the country bordering Sand Creek, quite up to its source, consists of rugged hills and ridges, which sometimes rise to considerable height, cut between by great yawning ravines and hollows, such as persecuted game loves to seek shelter in. ”

“ The system and judgment and patient effort which developed an active, educated, and even refined intellect in Laura Bridgman—deaf, dumb, and blind from birth—ought certainly to be able to teach a clear-headed, intelligent elephant to express at least some of his thoughts in writing. In this way it may, some day, be possible to open a channel for the communication of thought between man and the lower animals; in this way it may be possible to prove, beyond all possibility of dispute, the presence of the true reasoning faculty in other animals than man. ”

“ In this country, however, where he is at the mercy of quick-tempered and sometimes brutal showmen, who very often do not understand the temperament of the animals under their control, and who during the traveling season are rendered perpetually ill-tempered and vindictive by reason of overwork and insufficient sleep—with such masters as these to mete out punishment, without judgment or reason, it is no wonder that the animal occasionally rebels, and executes vengeance. ”

“ All who have witnessed the tying of captives, one by one, in a keddah, wherein a whole wild herd have been entrapped, testify to the human-like quality of intelligence displayed by all the tame elephants who assist in the tying and leading out and subjugation of the captives. They enter into the business with both spirit and understanding, and as occasion requires will deceitfully cajole or vigorously punish a troublesome captive. ”