Buffon's Natural History. Volume 07 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 07 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
In those happy regions, where our cannon and our murdering arts are
yet scarcely known, they fight still upon elephants. At Cochin, and
in the other parts of Malabar, they make no use of horses, and all
those who do not fight on foot are mounted upon elephants. In Tonquin,
Siam, and Pegu, the king, and all the grandees, ride on nothing but
elephants; on festival days they are preceded and followed by a great
number of these animals, superbly caparisoned, and covered with the
richest stuffs. They surround their tusks with gold and silver rings;
they paint their ears and cheeks; they crown them with garlands, and
their harness is ornamented with little bells; they seem to delight in
magnificent attire, and the more their trappings are rich and splendid
the more they are cheerful and caressing. It is only in the East
Indies that the elephants are so far improved, for in Africa they can
scarcely tame them. The Asiatics, anciently civilized, have reduced
the education of the elephant into a system, and they have instructed
and modified him according to their manners. But of all the Africans
the Carthaginians were the only people who trained up the elephants to
war, because at the time of the splendor of their commonwealth they
were, perhaps, more civilized than any other of the eastern nations.
At present no wild elephants are found in all that part of Africa on
this side Mount Atlas; there are even few beyond those mountains, as
far as the river Senegal. But they are numerous in Senegal, in Guinea,
in Congo, and on the Teeth Coast, in the countries of Anto, Acra,
Benin, and all the other southern parts of Africa, as far as the Cape
of Good Hope, except some provinces very populous, such as Fida, Ardra,
&c. They are also found in Abyssinia, in Ethiopia, in Nigritia, on the
eastern coast, and in the inland parts of Africa. They are also in the
great islands of India and Africa, such as Madagascar, Java, and the
Philippines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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