Elephants are to be found along the whole extent of frontier, ranging from the Chittagong district, to the very borders of Thibet. They become more scarce, and are, besides, less robust, and of smaller stature, in proportion as they recede from the sea coasts. Those sent yearly, by way of compliment, or of tribute, from the Rajah of Napaul, are by no means to be compared with the coomaeeahs, and mooknahs of Tipperah, and Chittagong, whose form and bulk certainly entitle them to superior estimation. Some of these are, occasionally, sold for immense sums to the native princes in the upper parts of Hindostan. Two thousand rupees are held to be but a low price for a male of nine feet in height, provided his teeth are large, even, and of regular curves: sometimes elephants, of extraordinary bulk, and of remarkably fine points, have reached to eight or ten thousand rupees.
The expence of keeping an elephant will vary according to the situation, and to the general services wherein it is employed: in the Dacca district but little expence is incurred, unless hard labour is to be performed, there being abundance of d’hul, (grass,) and of foliage, of which the animal can always obtain an ample supply gratis. There, a mohout rarely receives more than three rupees monthly, and a grass-cutter more than two. I have shewn, in describing the servants necessary to be retained in a gentleman’s suite, that the wages of these menials are generally much higher; which, when added to the average charges for food, chiefly badjra, or millet stems, which must be paid for, and rice, or barley, perhaps to the extent of 30lb. daily, will cause the expence of maintaining an elephant in the upper provinces, to amount to full thirty, or thirty-five, rupees per mensem; and that, too, exclusive of the wear and tear of gear of all kinds. On the whole, we may compute that an elephant, well kept, will cost full forty rupees (£5.) monthly. When we consider that, in England, few gentlemen keep their horses for much less, and that an elephant performs so much essential drudgery, indeed, equal to a team of three stout cart horses, also that the value of money in India is not half so great as with us, we may deem the above aggregate to be very moderate: the misfortune is, that an elephant is not, like a horse, promptly or generally useful; and that, owing to the nature of the climate, as well as of the soil, months often elapse before the proprietor of the former may be able to avail himself of the valuable powers of his sable property.
Camels are very generally kept by the officers of the army throughout the upper provinces, that is to say, above the Delta of the Ganges, where the soil is more appropriate to their form, than those muddy, slippery, tracts, in which these animals are extremely subject to fall. When such an accident happens, it is a great chance but the animal is rendered useless; as, owing to the great length of the hind legs, and to the want of any membranes, or muscles, calculated to prevent their easy divergence in diametrically opposite directions, the pelvis is extremely apt to split, and the power of extrication, or even of support itself, is entirely lost to this very valuable quadruped.
Though we generally attach the term ‘camel’ to that species of the camelus found in India, where great numbers are bred by persons who make a very large profit from their labors, the animal under consideration, having but one hump, or bunch, on its back, should, properly, be called a ‘dromedary.’ Whatever may be the true designation, the utility of the animal in a climate, and on a soil, to which it is so admirably suited by nature, is indisputable; but, with regard to its powers, as described by naturalists, or by travellers, I must beg leave to enter a partial dissent.
I have now before me a very respectable publication, wherein it is said, that ‘a camel will carry a weight of 1,200lb., and will perform a journey of three hundred leagues in eight days.’ Now, my own experience convinces me very fully that few camels will carry more than eight maunds, when making, on an average, stages of from fourteen, to sixteen, or, at the very utmost, twenty miles within the day, for two months; allowing a weekly halt.
So sensible are the Government of India of the inability of a camel to perform any thing like the service above described, that, in all their contracts, in which it must have been seen they take care so to proportion the burthens, that none but the choicest of cattle could move under them, it is especially detailed that such camels as may be admitted upon the Company’s establishment of carriage-cattle, should be rated in the proportion of three camels to one elephant; which, in other words, assigns to each a burthen composed of two private tents, the weight of each, when dry, being 275lb., and, when wet, 426lb.; including poles, pins, mallets, bags, &c.
Taking the medium as a standard, i.e. one wet, and one dry tent, the average burthen would be only 701lb., which will be found a greater load than any camels, setting apart perhaps one or two of extraordinary powers, which have come within my observation, could carry in a proper manner, so as to answer general purposes, when marching with a regiment.
The value of a camel varies according to size, form, age, condition, and disposition: supposing all those points to be mediocrity, from eighty, to a hundred and twenty, rupees may be taken as a standard; observing, that, where no military movement is in question, the prices are often lower, and that, in cases of emergency, they have been known to rise even so high as to four, five, and six, hundred rupees: but such, fortunately, is very rarely the case.
Most gentlemen keep two or three camels, for the purpose of carrying their tent, liquors, and cot. If on a moderate scale, two will generally prove competent to the work, but if the tent be large, the liquors and linen abundant, and the cot extensive, or on a heavy construction, a third camel will be necessary. In fact, I know not of worse policy, than that we too often see adopted, of burthening an animal with as much as it can stand under. When the moment of difficulty comes, as it rarely fails to do, infinite vexation, and an enormous encrease of expence, invariably follow. Hence, it will be found advisable, though the primary expence may be encreased, and the subsequent monthly charges be a trifle greater, always to retain three, in preference to two camels; unless the intended burthens be very compact, and not subject to accumulate a great addition of weight in wet weather.
The difference shewn to exist between tents, when wet, and when dry, according to the Company’s standard, ascertained by actual experiments, should prove a guide to all persons about to proceed on a march, so to proportion the loads imposed on their cattle as not to endanger their total failure. It should never be forgotten, that excoriations, however trivial in the first instance, speedily rankle into wounds, not simply painful, but generally trenching deeply on the immediate powers, as well as on the condition, of those useful dumb animals, which submit to the last moment to the will of their heedless employers.