Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/61

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TAMING ELEPHANTS
35

live three hundred years, and under rare circumstances five hundred, and that they go with young ten years. He and other writers say that they are larger and stronger than the African elephants. They will pull down with their trunks battlements, and uproot trees, standing erect upon their hind feet.

ELEPHANTS AT WORK HAULING TIMBER.

According to Nearchos, traps are laid in the hunting grounds, at certain places where roads meet; the wild elephants are forced into the toils by the tame elephants, which are stronger and are guided by a driver. They become so tame and docile that they learn even to throw a stone at a mark, to use military weapons, and to be excellent swimmers. A chariot drawn by elephants is esteemed a most important possession, and they are driven without bridles. A woman who receives from her lover an elephant as a present is greatly honoured, but this does not accord with what has been

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