for her. Of course it was a prime object with the enemy to "pick off" the conductor. In these cases, the elephant was very apt to run wild, not choosing to be ordered about, under unpleasant circumstances, by a stranger.

The ancient armor of an elephant, in other respects, is highly interesting-a strange mixture of the terrible and grotesque. He was often half cased with plates of metal, and wore a large breastplate, which was furnished with long, sharp spikes, to render his charge into the ranks of the enemy more devastating; his tusks were fitted-in fact, elongated-with strong points of steel. Plumes of feathers, small flags, and bells, were also affixed to him. This much we gather from medals, which were struck by Cæsar to commemorate his victory at Thapsus, and also from medals of the Julian family. Besides this equally protective and aggressive armor, some of the most sagacious and skilful of the fighting elephants were taught the use of the sword, and the handles being made suitable to the grasp of the trunk, they wielded enormous scimitars with extraordinary address, and often with tremendous effect. Sultan Akbar had many of these sword-bearing elephants in his army. How such a warrior would mow down the ranks of the "common men!" If we add to this, the huge scarlet, white, or blue painted ears flapping up and down, and the warrior aforesaid being mad drunk, it needs no very lively imagination to feel what an alarming object he would present in the thick of a battle-field.

At this statement Bibi Sahibeh was observed to flourish her proboscis with an excited air, and her daughter made a very curious sort of caper.

that it might readily change fronts, or perform an evolution according to the point at which the attack was made; he thinks, moreover, that in advancing to an assault, they deployed into Ilarchies, and were always in single file. One can easily see reason for the latter, as such a personage with all his fighting-gear about him, would need considerable "elbow-room." The commandantgeneral of the elephant Phalanx was always a personage of great importance, and was often so puffed up with the enormity of his position, that Terence makes a jest of it in his "Eunuchus."

Many were the devices of the ancient potentates and generals who were opposed by armies possessing fighting elephants, to accustom their soldiers to compete with these strange colossal warriors. Some of their methods were very ingenious, and some very clumsy and laughable. Perseus, King of Macedonia, wishing to accustom his cavalry to the sight of these animals, caused a number of wooden ones to be constructed; but, as they had all the clumsiness, with none of the vigor of real elephants, the least attempt to put them into motion, produced nothing but shouts of laughter from the whole army, to the great mortification and rage of his majesty, until one of them falling with solemnity on his lumbering side, the king was obliged to join in the general merriment. A very different method was adopted by Cæsar. Seeing the apprehensions entertained by his soldiers of the prowess of these elephants, in the opposing army, he caused one to be brought into the encampment, made the soldiers carefully examine all its vulnerable points; then covering it with its usual armor, made them again consider by what means they could best give it a mortal wound. Arrows, javelins, and very long spears were fabricated for the purpose of attack, and soldiers were

front, and one in the rear, so as to distract the creature's attention. Cæsar's victory at Thapsus was the consequence of these arrangements. So well had the Roman soldiers been trained, that a veteran, in the heat of this battle, having been seized by the trunk of an elephant, and lifted into the air, to be furiously disposed of by a second movement, the soldier, with great presence of mind, instantly made a slash with his

sword across the trunk, and followed up his blows till the elephant loosed his hold and retreated with loud cries. Horsemen were also trained to attack the elephants, and corps of slingers. The latter, however, were of little avail against the creature; but they were very useful in knocking the conductor off his "perch," and so leaving the elephant without his accustomed guide. Subsequently, a variety of equally ingenious and hideous devices were adopted to compete with the war-elephants of Oriental armies. Soldiers were cased in armor covered with sharp spikes, so that the elephants could not seize them with their trunks, and such a soldier being armed with an axe would often succeed in hamstringing his ponderous foe. Carrobalistas-a sort of engine for heaving large stones and pieces of rockwere sometimes brought against the elephants; but it was found very difficult to hit them when they were in motion, both from the rude nature of the engine, and also that the elephants were adroit, and well understood a "dodge." Torches, fiery darts, and javelins with lighted combustibles affixed to them, were employed with great suc cess; but the most effective of all means of terrifying the war-elephants was put into operation when Khosroo the Great was besieging Edessa. His elephants, with their towers, had advanced close to the ramparts, so as to enable the men in them to throw a platform from the top, on to the walls, across which the soldiers, by means of ladders up to the towers, were preparing to ascend, when a Roman soldier suddenly proposed to the general that a live hog should be hung out over the walls in the face of the elephants. This was done, and the whirling and kicking hog instantly screaming ten thousand murders, put the elephants into such consternation, that they turned about and fled away with towers and men and ladders, and nothing could induce them to advance again to the assault. The manœuvre of "the hog" was horribly performed when Antipater besieged Megara with a great phalanx of elephants. The Megareans smeared a number of hogs with resin and gum, and setting them on fire, drove them all, like so many shrieking flames, among the ranks of the besiegers; whereat the elephants instantly fled with cries of horror-and no great disgrace to them

neither. Most of the horses followed their example.

To those who are desirous of further particulars on the numerous battles among the successors of Alexander,-among the Romans, the Carthaginians, and the later nations of the East, in which elephants were employed, we can recommend the work of Colonel Armandi, as one full of curious, entertaining, and learned information.

The use of elephants in armies was abandoned from a variety of causes, not the least of which was the difficulty of obtaining a supply, to say nothing of the amount of provender required to be carried to feed them during a long march. The very sight of these animals in process of time became uncommon.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the first of these animals which was seen in Italy was sent by the Caliph Haroun Alraschid as a present to Charlemagne, who so highly esteemed the gift, that he named the creature Aboul-Abbas, after the first caliph of the race of the Abbassides. This almost equals the "Pure King," and the “ Wonderful King" of the royal enthusiast of Siam.

In their social relations, the ancestors of Bibi Sahibeh must be regarded as objects of considerable interest, and even of admiration,-whether we regard them as ministering to the grandeur of state occasions, to the luxuries and amenities of private life, or in the more arduous capacity of theatrical performers. In the festive games given by Germanicus, we learn from Ælian, that they often enacted a sham fight with excellent intelligence and effect, that they danced the Pyrrhic, and, to crown all, enacted a pantomime. This is seriously asserted by the above historian; but, we must, of course, understand that it bore no resemblance to our modern pantomimes, in which the presentation of the parts of Harlequin and Columbine would have been too much to expect of the most accomplished elephant. Pliny gives an account of a scene enacted by them, in which four of them carried a fifth in a litter, who represented a lady taking the air, after having been in a delicate situation. Others ranged themselves in a seated posture at a great banquet table, and ate their food from large plates of gold and silver, with portentous gravity, that excessively delighted the spectators. But the

master-feat of all, is related by Pliny, (Hist. Nat. vIII. 2, 3,) and by Suetonius, (Nero, II. and Galba, 6,) both of whom assure us that an elephant danced on the tight rope! He walked up a slanting tight-rope, from the bottom of the arena to the top of the amphitheatre; and, on one great occasion, a man was found daring enough, and confident enough in the performer's skill, to sit upon his back while he made the perilous ascent. The dreadfully careful expression of the elephant's countenance, while doing this, must have been both painful and interesting to the highest degree. If we must believe this story-and we confess that it is difficultwe would suggest, that the elephant, having four legs, might have been allowed two tight-ropes, placed side by side, in which case the thing seems possible. We are not told if he held a great balancing-pole in his proboscis, though it is probable that he did, and derived the usual assistance from it.

The erudite author of the article in the "Foreign Quarterly," previously quoted, informs us that Emanuel, king of Portugal, in 1514, made a present of an elephant to Pope Leo X. The animal had been so well trained for the occasion, that the moment he was ushered into the presence of his Holiness, he made three distinct genuflexions, to the great astonishment and delight of the Pope, and all present. This was, indeed, an elephant !—an unexpected convert to the Holy See. Many poems in Latin and Italian were made on the occasion. Most extraordinary care was taken of the "Wonderful King;" nevertheless, he died, after a few months, and his demise is thus recorded in very exquisite Latin, in the Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum, t. 1. p. 305, Franc. 1757. We cannot refrain from quoting the original:

Et

"Vos bene audivistis qualiter Papa habuit unum magnum animal quod vocatum fuit elephas, et habuit ipsum in magno honore, et valde amavit illud. Nunc igitur debetis scire quod tale animal est mortuum. quando fuit infirmum, tunc Papa fuit in magna tristitia, et vocavit medicos plures, et dixit eis: 'Si est possibile, sanate mihi elephas." Tunc fecerunt magnam diligentiam, et viderunt ei urinam, et dederunt ei unam purgationem quæ constat quinque centum aureos: sed tamen elephas est mortuum, et Papa dolet multum, et dicunt quod daret mille ducatos pro elephas; quia fuit mirabile animal, habens longem rostrum in mag

liness possessed a huge animal which was 'You have, no doubt, heard that his Hocalled an Elephant,' and held him in high honor, and loved him immensely.

46

Now, therefore, you are to learn that this animal is dead.

"And when it was ailing, the Pope was in great tribulation, and summoned many doctors to his presence, and said to them:If it be possible, restore the elephant to health for me!'

"Then, made the doctors a great to-do,tered a black draught, which cost five hunexamined his crystal matula, and adminisdred crowns of gold, (as the doctors declared). "But, notwithstanding, the elephant is dead!

"And the Pope cried a good deal; and they say that he would have given a thousand ducats for such another elephant-because he was a wonderful creature, having a long snout in great abundance, and when he saw his Holiness he sank on his knees, and exclaimed, with a terrible voice, Bar! bar! bar!'"

After all the scenes of historical magnificence, of warlike terror and skill, all the luxury, and all the artistic feats, which were discussed at the conversazione, it may now be a pleasing change to descend to the less exciting but equally interesting domestic scenes of private life, as displayed in the persons of Bibi Sahibeh and her daughter, who had issued "cards" of invitation on the present occasion.

The fair of Cawnpore, in Bengal, which took place last August, is a general mart where natives of all castes assemble for the purpose of sale and barter of all sorts of produce. It is just outside the walls, and lasts two days. The chief objects of attraction are muslins, coarse gaudy-colored cloths and calicoes, horses, camels, buffaloes, zebra-cows, fruit, rice, grain, and sweet

meats.

A party of a dozen Hindoo hunters brought into the fair, when at its height, a couple of elephants which they had captured in the jungle. One of them, who was pregnant at the time, was ridden into the fair by a Hindoo, and all the hunters showed her a marked attention. Need we say that

this was Bibi Sahibeh-otherwise, the Widow Khatimeh—for the elephant who accompanied her was not her spouse-slain, alas! some time before in the jungle-but another female, though of far less note and pretensions.

Another Hindoo now mounted the neck of the second elephant and the two were ridden about the fair, until they were purchased by Mr. Wallace, a great dealer in horses in those parts. He placed them in charge of his grooms, and roped them near his tent for the night. At half-past ten P. M., every body retired to his tent and went to sleep, except the watchman, who constantly patroled round the outside with a sword and a brace of pistols-a necessary proceeding, as the labors of hunters, and the gold of purchasers, are not unfrequently wasted in consequence of the adroitness and daring of certain native thieves. During his watch this man observed signs of uneasiness in Bibi Sahibeh which caused him to announce to Mr. Wallace the pleasing intelligence that a very important event could not be far distant. At two o'clock A. M., the encampment, as usual, broke up, and the march commenced. This continued till four; again they paused; and again they proceeded. This systematic mode of travelling continued for some days, but with additional periods of rest, in consideration of the important event which was continually expected. In brief, Mr. Wallace announced that, having had a little private conversation with Bibi Sahibeh, he had resolved to make a halt for three weeks.

The encampment was near a little village which afforded very good ground-plenty of grass and shade. Here the elephants

thy young personage who now trots before you in the "Gardens" of the English metropolis, and, though only six months old, looks a century in the face.

In a fortnight the march was resumed, and so fully was the strength of the mother renovated, that twenty-two miles were per formed the first day. But her daughter did not walk this distance. She was lifted by two men into a cart, with the consent of Bibi, who carefully and watchfully followed close behind, touching her every now and then to assure her of her guardian presence, and sometimes walking for miles with her trunk laid affectionately upon the little one's back. In the space of thirteen days they arrived at Calcutta, but were left at Mr. Cox's bungalow, some three miles distant, as elephants are not permitted to enter the city. They were shipped in due course.

At first, the two elder elephants were placed side by side in the vessel, as it was thought they might like each other's com pany; but one evening the other female took the liberty of "smelling the calf”—as though she would have said, "I once had a daughter myself; let me see if—?" Whereat Bibi, who perfectly understood what was passing in her mind, let drive at her with one tusk so violent a blow that the tusk was broken against the backbone of the offender, who nearly rolled overboard. After this, it was deemed advisable to place the two elder ladies on opposite sides of the ship. They had a prosperous voyage to England without further accident.

From "Chambers' Edinburgh Journal,"

GOLD WORSHIPPERS.

Ir is curious to look back on the fatal and

corded in the history of our race, from the period when Midas became its victim, and the boy chased the rainbow to find the pot of treasure at its foot, to the days when the alchemist offered his all a burnt-sacrifice on the altar; until we reach the present time, when, although the manner of its worship has changed, the old idolatry remains in spirit the same. One or two anecdotes illustrative of the passion for gold worship may not prove uninteresting.