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Foreign News
June 3, 1829
Daily Richmond Whig
Richmond, Virginia
What is this article about?
Anecdotes from the siege of Seringapatam illustrate elephants' sagacity: one lifts a gun wheel to save a fallen artilleryman crossing a riverbed; another tenderly cares for a native camp follower's baby while chained.
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The Elephant as Nurse
One example of their sagacity was related to me by an officer of artillery who witnessed the transaction. The battering train going to the siege of Seringapatam, had to cross the sandy bed of a river that resembled other rivers of the Peninsula, which have, during the dry season, but a small stream of water running through them, though their beds are mostly of considerable breadth, very heavy for draught, and abounding in quicksands. It happened that an artillery man, who was seated on the timber of one of the guns, by some accident fell off, in such a situation that, in a second or two, the hind wheel must have gone over him. The elephant which was stationed behind the gun, perceiving the predicament in which the man was, instantly, without any warning from its keeper, lifted up the wheel with its trunk, and kept it suspended till the carriage had passed clear over him.
The attachment or dislike of elephants to their keepers, according to the treatment they receive, is too well known to need illustration. I have myself seen the wife of a native (for the followers often take their families with them to camp) give a baby in charge to the elephant while she went on some business, and have been highly amused in observing the sagacity and care of the unwieldy nurse. The child, which, like most children, do not like to lie still in one position, would, as soon as left to itself, begin crawling about, in which exercise it would get among the legs of the animal, or entangled in the branches of the trees on which he was feeding; when the elephant would, in the most tender manner, disengage his charge, either by lifting it out of the way with his trunk, or by removing the impediments to its free progress. If the child had crawled to such a distance as to verge upon the limits of his range, (for the animal was chained by the leg to a peg driven into the ground,) he would stretch out his trunk, and lift it back to the spot whence it had started, and this without causing any alarm to the child, which appeared accustomed to the treatment of its Brobdingnagian guardian.
As we have great complaints of the carelessness of nursery-maids, might it not be a good plan to import elephants to supersede those giddy creatures?
One example of their sagacity was related to me by an officer of artillery who witnessed the transaction. The battering train going to the siege of Seringapatam, had to cross the sandy bed of a river that resembled other rivers of the Peninsula, which have, during the dry season, but a small stream of water running through them, though their beds are mostly of considerable breadth, very heavy for draught, and abounding in quicksands. It happened that an artillery man, who was seated on the timber of one of the guns, by some accident fell off, in such a situation that, in a second or two, the hind wheel must have gone over him. The elephant which was stationed behind the gun, perceiving the predicament in which the man was, instantly, without any warning from its keeper, lifted up the wheel with its trunk, and kept it suspended till the carriage had passed clear over him.
The attachment or dislike of elephants to their keepers, according to the treatment they receive, is too well known to need illustration. I have myself seen the wife of a native (for the followers often take their families with them to camp) give a baby in charge to the elephant while she went on some business, and have been highly amused in observing the sagacity and care of the unwieldy nurse. The child, which, like most children, do not like to lie still in one position, would, as soon as left to itself, begin crawling about, in which exercise it would get among the legs of the animal, or entangled in the branches of the trees on which he was feeding; when the elephant would, in the most tender manner, disengage his charge, either by lifting it out of the way with his trunk, or by removing the impediments to its free progress. If the child had crawled to such a distance as to verge upon the limits of his range, (for the animal was chained by the leg to a peg driven into the ground,) he would stretch out his trunk, and lift it back to the spot whence it had started, and this without causing any alarm to the child, which appeared accustomed to the treatment of its Brobdingnagian guardian.
As we have great complaints of the carelessness of nursery-maids, might it not be a good plan to import elephants to supersede those giddy creatures?
What sub-type of article is it?
Military Campaign
Colonial Affairs
What keywords are associated?
Elephants
Sagacity
Seringapatam
Siege
Artillery
River Crossing
Native Camp
Baby Care
Where did it happen?
Seringapatam
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Seringapatam
Event Details
An officer recounts two instances of elephants' intelligence during military operations in the Peninsula: an elephant lifts a gun carriage wheel to prevent it from running over a fallen artilleryman while crossing a sandy riverbed en route to the siege of Seringapatam; another elephant cares for a native camp follower's baby by gently managing its movements while chained.