Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 712

ELEPHANTS IN BATTLE
672
howdahs were of any great
might be imagined from certain illustrations. Like
those which may still be found in the present day amongst
the armies of some Eastern princes, these towers or howdahs
resembled large boxes without lids, as long and as broad as
a large bed, placed crosswise on the back of the elephant,
to suppose that these castles or
size, as
of holding six or seven archers when sitting in
Though an elephant is very strong, so as
Oriental fashion.
to be able to carry two small cannons and their carriages,
and naturally
there is nevertheless a limit to its powers
a much larger erection, with a still larger number of men in
it, would be a burden, under which even an elephant would
succumb. And there is yet another point, namely, the
difficulty of fixing a lofty structure with any degree of secu-
rity on an elephant's back, a difficulty which would be ren-
dered practically insurmountable by the brusque movements
and rolling gait of the animal. Be this as it may, elephants
in days gone by were formidable adversaries amongst these
They broke the ranks, frightened
half -disciplined nations.
the horses, trampled the soldiers underfoot and at the same
time it was very difficult to wound them, on account of their
hard and horny epidermis. These powerful creatures are
still employed in the armies of native princes, but rather
from ostentation than from any warlike purpose that they
A native general or senior officer considers an ele-
serve.
phant to be the only mount befitting his dignity the animal
being usually covered with magnificent trappings. It is
only with great difficulty that elephants can be made to
stand fire, though every method is employed to familiarize
them with it. Without these precautions the rattle of fire-
arms and the squibs that are hurled at them would excite
them to frenzy, and would consequently cause the death of
and capable
;
;
;
their riders.
They were also used for battering the gates of besieged
towns and it was with a view to counteracting this that
most of the gates were thickly studded on the outside with
long and stout iron spikes.
In the Mogul armies, before the introduction of European
tactics, an elephant always marched in the van, bearing on
its head a long pole, from which floated a large flag.
Some-
times this was followed by another elephant carrying a rich
;