Elephants fight fiercely with one another,
and stab one another with their tusks; of two combatants the beaten
one gets completely cowed, and dreads the sound of his conqueror's
voice. These animals differ from one another an extraordinary extent
in the way of courage. Indians employ these animals for war
purposes, irrespective of sex; the females, however, are less in
size and much inferior in point of spirit. An elephant by pushing with
his big tusks can batter down a wall, and will butt with his
forehead at a palm until he brings it down, when he stamps on it and
lays it in orderly fashion on the ground. Men hunt the elephant in the
following way: they mount tame elephants of approved spirit and
proceed in quest of wild animals; when they come up with these they
bid the tame brutes to beat the wild ones until they tire the latter
completely. Hereupon the driver mounts a wild brute and guides him
with the application of his metal prong; after this the creature
soon becomes tame, and obeys guidance. Now when the driver is on their
back they are all tractable, but after he has dismounted, some are
tame and others vicious; in the case of these latter, they tie their
front-legs with ropes to keep them quiet.
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