3-011-771 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A squad of elephants saluting the Commandant at Dinapore, India, 1864. 'The Illustration affords another evidence of the elephant's sagacity, and a striking instance of the degree of training to which this huge quadruped may easily be brought. The scene was sketched by our Artist at Dinapore, where a considerable squad of elephants was temporarily picketed, affording him many opportunities of studying their habits. On this occasion the Commandant of the station was inspecting them, and as he passed down the line the word "Sulaam kurro" was loudly shouted by the mahouts, who themselves made a low salaam, as the elephants immediately poised their trunks perpendicularly in the air. Each elephant is tied by the foreleg to a picket driven into the ground, and is thereby kept in his place; the chain or rope used for this purpose seems inadequately slight and weak, and, indeed, it would require but a small effort on the part of the animal to free himself; but his sense of duty forbids this, and so accustomed are these docile creatures to second the will of their keepers that a very small cord would, in most cases, be sufficient to keep them in their places'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.