Elephants are often used, as we use saddle-horses, as steeds by European officers in India; and a light, well-broken elephant has an easy motion quite agreeable. The Meerga caste, or breed, from their long limbs, are generally the fastest; while small calves are often employed, the rider sitting astride as in horseback-riding. A large saddle and stirrup is used; and in rough country, the little fellows are a welcome addition to the travellers’ party.
Elephants are very sure-footed at their work, and, when going at full speed, rarely stumble; if they do, they only go upon the knees. Like horses, they will run away at times; and a bolting elephant is much more to be dreaded than a bucking horse.
The Mysore officer in charge of elephants says, “I have felt, on the one or two occasions which I have been on a bolting elephant, as a man might feel if bestriding a runaway locomotive, and hooking the funnel with the crook of his walking-stick to hold it in. It is a very difficult thing,” he says, “to cure a confirmed bolter, as the habit has its origin in fear; and the animal is always liable to be startled by unexpected sounds or sights, chiefly the former. It is a rare trick, however; and I have only known two elephants subject to it. One was a fine baggage animal, but almost useless for jungle-work from tins trick. I, however, cured him in the following way: I had a stout hoop of iron made with sharp spikes on the inside, to encircle one of his hind-legs. This was kept in its place round the leg by being suspended from the pad by a rope; and it fitted the leg loosely, so as not to inconvenience the elephant except when required to do so. To the ring was attached a chain fifteen feet long, at the other end of which was a pickaxe’s head. This grappling apparatus was slung to the pad by a small cord in a slip-knot, handy to the mahout. If the elephant began to run, one pull freed it; and before the anchor had been dragged many yards, it caught in the roots or bushes, and brought the elephant up with such a twinge, that it soon began to think twice before making off.”
The howdah is an ornamental covered saddle; though some resemble small houses, and cost their owners vast sums of money. They are used on state occasions, and in tiger-hunting. The motion is hard, and rather unpleasant to the novice. Another saddle is called a chárjámá. It is merely a broad board with cushions upon it, and footboards attached to each side. There is a rail upon each end; and four persons sit upon it, two on each side, back to back, somewhat after the fashion of a jaunting car.
Riding-elephants will travel at about four miles an hour, while some long-legged fellows will make five or more miles in this time. Wounded elephants, as we have seen, sometimes make remarkable time.
Concerning the motion of elephants, Bishop Heber says,—
“At Barrackpoor, for the first time I mounted an elephant, the motion of which I thought far from disagreeable, though very different from that of a horse. As the animal moves both feet on the same side at once, the sensation is like that of being carried on a man’s shoulders. A full-grown elephant carries two persons in the howdah, besides the mahout, who sits on his neck, and a servant on the crupper behind. The howdah itself, which Europeans use, is not unlike the body of a small gig, but without a head.”
Capt. Williamson says,—
“The gait of an elephant is very peculiar, being similar to the artificial pace of ambling taught to some horses. It is far from displeasing in a horse, but causes such a motion, when mounted on an elephant, as rarely to be borne for any distance. Indeed, I know nothing more uncomfortable and tedious, I may even say painful, than a long journey in a howdah. It occasions a lassitude not to be described. We must suppose that habit reconciles people to it; as we see the natives travel, for perhaps twenty miles or more in a forenoon, without any apparent uneasiness. The largest elephants are, in general, the most uncomfortable in this respect.”
In mounting an elephant, the animal either kneels, or a ladder is used to climb upon its back; while natives descend by means of a rope. Generally a mahout, or professional driver, is employed to guide the elephant. Mr. Crawford states, that in his time this was not always the practice in Ava. He says,—