ey make in the wilderness. It is a
most interesting and exceptional fact that these captive elephants,
though bred in perfect freedom and provided with none of those
inherited instincts so essentially a part of the value of our other
domesticated quadrupeds, become helpful to man and attached to him in a
way which is characteristic of none other of our ancient companions
except the dog. It is safe to say that the Asiatic elephant is the most
innately domesticable, and the best fitted by nature for companionship
with man, of all our great quadrupeds. The qualities of mind which in
our other domesticated quadrupeds have been slowly developed by
thousands of years of selection and intercourse with our kind, are in
this creature a part of its wild estate.

It appears from trustworthy anecdotes that the Asiatic elephants in a
few months of captivity acquire the rules of conduct which it is
necessary to impose upon them. The speediness of this intellectual
subjugation may be judged from the fact that, after a short term of
domestication, they will take a willing and intelligent part in
capturing their kindred of the wilderness, showing in this work little
or no disposition to rejoin the wild herds. In the case of no other
animal do we find anything like such an immediate adhesion to the ways
of civilization. We have to account for this eminent peculiarity of the
elephant on the supposition, which appears to be thoroughly justified,
that the creature has, even in its wild state, a type of intelligence
and instincts more nearly like those of men than is the case with any
other wild mammal, an affinity with human quality which is, perhaps,
only approached by certain species of birds. It appears from the
observations of naturalists that the family or tribe of wild elephants
is a distinct and highly sympathetic community. The grade and value of
the friendly feeling which prevails among them may be judged by the
fact that, when one of the males becomes lost or is driven away from
its associates, it does not seem to be able to join any other tribe,
but becomes a "rogue," or solitary individual, and in this state
develops a morose and furious temper.

There are many well-attested stories which serve to show that wild
elephants have a kind of intelligence which indicates a certain
constructive capacity. Of these, perhaps the best are the instances in
which the creatures have been caught in pitfalls, made by digging a
hole in the pat