ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 151
Celtic
spoils."* We may conjecture that the animal picked out the letters with
its trunk, and many of us have seen trained horses, etc., perform
similar tricks under expert guidance.
Writing
about a century later than Pliny, iElian also notes the performance of
an educated elephant which could write out letters on a tablet with its
trunk. He admits, however, that the hand of the trainer was so placed
as to be able to guide the trunk, but the animal seemed to be intent on
its task, and appeared to understand perfectly what it was doing. In
another performance a troupe of elephants, with trappings of different
colours, first executed a series of dances to the sound of musical
instruments, and then took their places in proper order at immense
tables, proceeding to eat and drink in imitation of a group of
banqueters, f
The
Italian traveller, Ludovico di Barthema, of Bologna, who journeyed
through the East at the beginning of the sixteenth century, described
the offensive and defensive armour of an Indian war elephant. The head
and trunk were protected by a covering of mail, and as a weapon of
defence, a long sword, having a blade as broad as a man's hand, was
firmly attached to the trunk. The animal carried seven men, each armed
with bow, lance, sword, and shield. According to this writer's report,
the female elephant was both stronger and fiercer than the male of the
species. The price paid for one of these animals varied from land to
land, in some places it was only fifty ducats, while in others it
attained the sum of one thousand or even two thousand ducats, t
The Mogul emperors of the sixteenth and seventeenth
*Plinii, "Historia Naturalis," Lib. VIII, Cap. Ill; Harduin notes that the Greek words would form a perfect metrical line.
fAeliani, "Natura animalium," Lib. II, Cap. XL
Î" Itinerario de Lodovico Varthema," ed. by Alfredo Bacchi della Lega, Bologna, 1885, pp. 118-121; first edition, Rome, 1510.
