The stature of elephants, in general, may be rated between seven and nine feet: the former is the standard at which they are admitted upon the Company’s establishment, at the value of five hundred sicca rupees each (£65). Provided the animals be stout, and competent to carry a proper burthen, such blemishes as would depreciate them considerably among the natives, who entertain many prejudices in this particular, are not considered.
The principal defects, in the eye of a native merchant, are,
1. A broken tail; or a deficiency of the forked hair at its termination. The former arises from the habit the elephants are in, of laying hold of their opponent’s tails with their trunks, and of twisting them so, that, occasionally, they are absolutely snapped, or, perhaps, tumefy, and, in the end, sphacelate.
2d. An uneven number of claws to the feet: there should be five on each fore, and four on each hind foot.
3d. Bad tusks; that is, such as are decayed, or, having been broken in contests, cannot be rendered ornamental: an elephant born with only one tooth, or tusk, is highly prized, as being sure to overwhelm its owner with good fortune.
4th. Having a black, or spotted palate; either of which is supposed to be an indication of bad health, as well as of misfortune.
5th. Bad eyes; though sometimes we see very serviceable elephants totally deprived of sight, which travel admirably with burthens, but are unfit for the howdah; these are extremely careful to put their trunks forward as they proceed, whereby they are warned of any hollows, &c. Blind elephants are peculiarly attentive to the words of command given by their drivers.
6th. The want of hair on the forehead, lean jaws, small jagged ears, narrow feet, thin legs, short bodies, and a contracted barrel, or carcase, are all objectionable, and become serious objects of attention in the purchase of this animal. An European, not accustomed to view elephants critically, would conclude that little variety, in the above respects, would be found; but there are certainly as many estimable, or agreeable, points in a fine elephant, as in a fine horse; though we rarely look so narrowly into the perfections of the former, on account of being less in the habits of cherishing, or of driving, them in person.
According to the regulations, an elephant ought to be able to carry twenty-five maunds, which is within a twenty-sixth part of being a ton; but, although the several contractors stipulate, without hesitation, that their elephants should be able to carry that weight at all times, not one in a hundred of those in the service, or in the possession of individuals, could bear it even for one day’s ordinary march, which should not exceed eight coss, (sixteen miles,) all beyond that being considered a forced march.
The elephant is furnished with two pads, of which the under one, called a guddaylah, is commonly made of red karwah, stuffed to the thickness of an inch and a half with cotton, and well quilted. The upper pad, called a guddy, is made of tawt, which is a narrow kind of very coarse canvas, and is stuffed very hard with straw to about the thickness of six inches. These are put on, the one over the other, and firmly secured to the body by means of stout ropes passing round the whole, as well as under the tail, by way of crupper.