burthened, thereon, as on a staff.’” The terror which elephants produced on foot-soldiers was well appreciated three centuries ago, and victory was generally gained by the side that possessed the greatest number of these animals. The fear of elephants was the greatest difficulty the famous adventurer Timour had to deal with when on his victorious march through Persia, Siberia, and Russia. His men replied to his war-speeches, “We may subdue Hind; yet it hath many ramparts, rivers, wildernesses, and forests; soldiers clad in armor; and the elephants, the destroyers of men.” [Illustration: PLATE XX. THE ROYAL VISIT TO INDIA. THE PRINCE OF WALES AT AGRA. _By permission Illustrated London News._ _Page 253._] When the army arrived upon the plains in front of Delhi, he had to take the most extraordinary precautions to prevent this morbid fear from resulting in a rout. An enormous ditch was built around the camp, to prevent an inroad of invading elephants. Buffaloes were tied together by the neck, and arranged about the ramparts, and their horns bedecked with rushes, while men were stationed to set them on fire at the first approach of the terrible elephants. What would have been the effect of this conflagration on the unfortunate bullocks, imagination can picture. The opposing force to Timour in this battle (A.D. 1399) was the Sultan Mamood, and the remarkable armament of his elephants was certainly enough to strike terror to the boldest heart. His army consisted of ten thousand horse, forty thousand foot-soldiers, and elephants. The latter were arrayed in armor, and mounted with bastions filled with men armed with crossbows. Their tusks were elongated with poisoned daggers; and on scaffolds hung to the sides stood armed men, bearing fire and melted pitch and iron-pointed rockets to hurl and throw at the enemy. As this army marched forward, the men upon their backs beating kettledrums, cymbals, bells, and trumpets, the brave followers of Timour fell back, utterly demoralized, before the appalling sight; and the commander himself fell upon his knees in prayer,—a characteristic one: “As my vast conquests have caused the destruction of a great number of God’s creatures, I have resolved to atone for the crimes of my past life by exterminating the infidels of China.” In some way the Delhi elephants threw their own left wing into disorder. Timour’s horsemen rushed forward; and the elephants, demoralized at their sabre-cuts, fled in great confusion, while the sharp weapons aimed at their trunks left many upon the field. As the great animals fled, Timour’s men saw that the elephants were not invincible, and, rushing to the front, completed the disastrous rout. Timour’s grandson, a boy of fifteen, made himself conspicuous by attacking and wounding an elephant, overthrowing its riders, and driving the huge animal into his grandfather’s camp. The day following the battle of Delhi, Timour sat upon the throne of the Indian