A Voyage to East India, Account of voyage · Section 6
SECTION VI.
Of the care and skill of this people in keeping and managing their excellent good Horſes. Of their Elephants and their ordering and managing them. And how the people ride and are carried up and down from place to place.
THe Souldery here, and ſo many of the Gentry, and better ſort of the people, who live at Court, ſhew excellent good skill in riding and managing of their well turn'd, high metald, choiſe horſes, which are excellent good at mounting up, bounding and curvetting, and when they runne them at their full ſwifteſt ſpeed will ſtop them at a foots breadth; for the ſcantling of thoſe creatures, they are in proportion like ours, but excellently well eyed, headed, limn'd; for their colours there are ſome of them Raven black, but many more of them white, curiouſly dapled; and a very great number Pied and ſpotted all o…er, and there are ſome of other bright colours. But it is a uſual cuſtom there amongſt Gallants who ride upon the bright coloured horſes, to have their leggs & lower parts of their Bellyes and Breſts died into a Saffron colour (of which they have much there) which makes them look as if they had ſtood in ſome Dyars vate, juſt up to ſuch an height of their bodyes.
The hair upon their Horſes (whom they keep plump and fat) is very ſhort, ſoft, and lyes ſleek upon them, and I wonder not at it, they are kept ſo daintily, every Horſe being allowed a man to dreſs and feed him, and to run by him when he is rode forth, and this is all his work.
They tye not down their horſe heads when they ſtand ſtill (as we do) with hal ets, but ſecure each horſe by two ropes, faſtned to their hinde feet, which ropes are ſomwhat long to be ſtaked down behind them in tents, or other places wherein they are kept.
They cut graſs for them green or withered on the earth as they have occaſion to uſe it, never mowing their ground and making hay as we do. But that which keeps their Horſes in heart, and in fleſh, is the provender they eat which is a kinde of round grain they call Donna, ſomewhat bigger than our Tares, which they give not unto them drye but boyl'd. and mingled with ſome corſe ſugar amongſt it and when it is cold give it them, made up in round Balls, which they put into their mouths, as if they cramb'd them; and ſometimes they put a little Butter into theſe bals to ſcour their bodyes.
Their choyſe good horſes are valued there at as dear if not an higher rate, than thoſe we eſteem moſt of in England are prized with us. They make excellent Sadles, and ſome of them of great value adorned with handſome and rich trapings, all of them very eaſy both for the horſe, and his rider. They manage their horſes with ſtrong ſnafles, whoſe reigns and head-ſtalls are made ſuitable to their Saddles and Trapings.
The Elephants in this vaſt Monarchy are very numerous, and though they be the largeſt, and that by far, of all the Creatures the earth brings forth, yet are they ſo tractable, unleſs at ſome times when the Males are mad (of which more afterward) as that a boy of twelve years old is able to rule the biggeſt of them, in which we may in a ſpeciall manner read a Comment on that truth which tells us how that the Lord hath put the fear of man upon all the creatures here below; even upon the greateſt of them, as well as the leaſt. Thou makeſt him ſaith David Pſal. 8▪ 6, 7. to have domixion over the works of thy hands; thou haſt put all things under his feet; all ſheep and Oxen, yea and the beaſts of the field, &c. Now if Almighty God ſhould let looſe the Creatures upon man, if he ſhould let go thoſe reigns by which they reſtrained, and ſuffer the Creatures to renounce their obedience to man, when man throws off his yoak of obedience to God, what miſchief might not thoſe vaſt overgrown Creatures do in thoſe parts where there are ſo many of them? nay, What miſchief might not any other Creatures do, even the leaſt of them, as the Locuſt, and Canker-worm, and Catterpillar, &c. which are called Gods great Army, Joel 2. 25. If God ſhould give them Commiſſion to put themſelves in Battel-aray, and to march forth, to vex and annoy the Nations of the earth?
We may read Ex. 8. how that all the Power that Pharaoh and Egypt were able to make, could not guard and defend them from the incurſions made upon them, and miſchiefs done to them, by Froggs, and Lice, and Flyes. There are ſpirits which are Created for vengeance (ſaith Syracidos) &c. as the teeth of wild beaſts, and Scorpions, and Serpents, puniſhing the wicked to deſtruction, they rejoyce to do Gods Commandement, &c. If Almighty God ſhould free the Creatures from their ſubjection, they would be able with their Horns, and Hoofs, and Fangs, and Teeth, and Beaks, and Claws, and ſtings, (which are their natural Artillerie) exceedingly to annoy, if not to deſtroy man from the face of the Earth.
But for the Elephants (I have begun to ſpeak of) they are very huge vaſt overgrown Creatures, ſome of whem which I have ſeen, I conceive at the leaſt twelve foot high, but there are amongſt them (as they ſay) fourteen or fifteen foot in height. The colour of them all is black; their skins thick, and ſmooth without hair; They have full eyes, but not proportionable to their great bodys, they have eares like our Oxen, but not exceeding large, and thoſe eares edged (as it were) about with a ſhort hair-fringe; and at the end of their tayls (which are ſlender and not very long) there growes ſome hair likewiſe, and a little on their eyelids; but no where els about their bodyes.
The feet of the Elephants look like the trunks of ſmall trees cut ſquare off from their roots, round about which there are thick, and ſhort, and broad claws growing.
Some that write of them have abuſed the world with this tradition that they have no joints in their leggs, and therefore ſtand when they ſleep againſt trees to hold them up, which is all very falſe, for they ly down and ariſe again at their pleaſure as other beaſts do.
Their motion is not ſwift, a walking rather than a pace, about three miles at the moſt an hour, but of all heaſts that carry burdens, they are moſt ſure of foot, for they never fall, nor yet ſtumble to endanger their Rider.
They are moſt docile creatures, and of all thoſe we account meerly ſenſible come neereſt unto reaſon.
Lipſius in his Epiſtles Cent. 1. Epiſt. 50. out of his obſervation from others, writes more of them than I can confirm, or any, I perſwade my ſelf, believe; yet many things moſt remarkable, which ſeem indeed to be acts of reaſon rather than ſenſe, I have obſerved in them, for inſtance, an Elephant will doe any thing his keeper Commands him, as if he bid him to affright a man, he will make towards him as if he meant to tread him into peeces, but when he is come at him do him no hurt at all; ſo if he would have him, to abuſe or to diſgrace a man, he will take dirt or duſt, or kennel-water into his Trunk, and daſh it on his face.
Their Trunks are griſly ſnouts of a great length, hanging down betwixt their long teeth, which teeth nature hath given them for their defence, otherwiſe they are of little uſe to them. In their Trunks they have ſuch marvellous ſtrength, that by them they can do very much miſchief, for if they ſtrike an Horſe, or Camel, or any other the like beaſt with them, (as ſometimes they do when as they are mad) they will ſo break their bones, as that they will ſpoyl, nay kill them at one blow, and much more a man if he chance to come in their way.
Thoſe Trunks of the Elephants are to them as an hand by which they …eed themſelves, and make great uſe of them otherwiſe upon all occaſions, for with thoſe Trunks they tear off bowghs from trees, by winding them about them, and after, with them, put boughs into their mouths, and eat the tendereſt parts of them. With theſe they pull up green corn (if they be ſuffered) and graſs by the roots, and then againſt their leggs beat off the earth and duſt that hangs about them, before they eat thereof. Thus they deal with ſedgs, or weeds which they find in the water, firſt waſhing off the dirt which hangs on the roots thereof, and then down they go into their vaſt bellyes.
The Elephants delight much to bathe themſelves in water, in which, when they find depth enough, they ſwim as well as any other Creatures.
I obſerved before, that the male Elephants when they grow luſty are ſometimes mad for their Femals, but in few dayes come again in temper; before which time they are ſo miſchievous, that they will ſtrike any thing, but their Keepers, that comes in their way; and their ſtrength is ſuch (as before I obſerv'd) that there is no blow they give which lights either upon men or beaſt, but carryes death with it. At thoſe times to prevent miſchief they are kept apart from Company, fetterd with ſtrong chaines unto trees; but if by chance in their phrenſie they get looſe (as ſometimes they do) they will make after every thing they ſee ſtir, in which caſe they have no means to ſtop them in their violent courſe, but by firing of Crackers made of Gunpowder, whoſe ſparkling, and noyſe makes them to ſtand ſtill and tremble. When thoſe creatures are in that mad diſtemper, they ſweat much, which makes their ſavour exceeding rank and filthy like that ill ſmel of a Boa… when he is fatting in his Stye, but by much more ſtrong, and more offenſive than that.
An Engliſh Merchant there, of good credit upon his own knowledge, reported this thing which followes, and is very obſervable, of an Elephant in Adſmeer, (the place then of the Mogols reſidence) who being brought often through the Bazar or Market place, a woman who uſually ſat there to ſell herbs, was wont to give this great Elephant an handfull, as he many times paſſed by; this Elephant after, being mad, brake his fetters, and took his way through that Bazar; the people being all of them much affrighted, made haſt to ſecure themſelves by getting out of his way, amongſt whom was this herb-woman, who, for fear and haſt, forgot her little Child which ſhe had brought thither; the Elephant came to the place where this woman uſually ſate, ſtopt, and ſeeing a little Child lying there about her herbs, took it up gently with his Trunk, not doing it the leaſt harm, and preſently after layd it down upon the ſtall of an houſe that was hard by; and then proceeded on in his furious courſe. Acoſta, a Jeſuit, relates the like of an Elephant in Goa from his own experience.
The Elephant, though he be vaſt, and terrible, yea and cruell too, when he is ſet to do miſchief, or when he is mad, yet otherwiſe is a tame gentle Creature, ſo that the dread of this huge beaſt, moſt appears to the eyes. But notwithſtanding his terribleneſs, I once there ſaw a Creature compared with an Elephant, not much bigger than a ſmall Fiſh compared with a Whale, boldly to encounter one of them. The occaſion by which this ſo came to paſs offers it ſelf thus; that year I went for Eaſt-India, the Merchants here (as from the King of England, in whoſe name they ſent all their preſents) amongſt many other things, then ſent the Mogol ſome great Engliſh Maſtives, and ſome large Iriſh Greyhounds, in all to the number of eight, diſperſed in our ſeverall ſhips; one of thoſe high ſpirited Maſtives in our voyage thither, upon a day ſeeing a great Shoale or company of Porpiſces (before deſcribed) mounting up above the waves, and coming toward that ſhip wherein he was, ſuddenly lept over-board to encounter with them, before any did take notice of that fierce creature, to prevent that engagement, wherein he was irrecoverably loſt, the ſhip then having ſuch a freſh gale of winde, that ſhe could not ſuddenly ſlack her courſe, whereby that poor creature might have been preſerved. Another, one of the Iriſh Greyhounds had his head ſhot off in our fight. The Mange was the deſtruction of four more of them, only two of the Maſtives came alive to Eaſt-India, and they were carried up, each of them drawn in a little Coach, when I went up to the Embaſſador, that he might preſent them to the Mogol. The fierceſt of theſe two, in our way thither, upon a time breaking looſe, fell upon a very large Elephant that was hard by us, faſtning his teeth in the Elephants Trunk, and kept his hold there a good while, which made that huge beaſt extremely to roare; and though the Elephant did ſwing the Maſtive up and down above ground many times (as not feeling his weight) that he might throw him off; yet he could not ſuddenly do it, but at laſt freeing himſelf from the dog by throwing him a good ſpace from him, the…e came a Mungrill Curr of that Countrey towards our Maſtive, who then loſt this his moſt unequal match, fell upon that dog and kild him, by which means we recovered our Maſtive again into our cuſtody, he having not received any apparent hurts; by which we may ſee how much Courage and Mettle there is in thoſe right fierce Maſtives.
This ſtorie pleaſed the Mogol very much when the dogs were preſented to him, and he allowed each of them four attendants of thoſe Natives to wait upon them, who by turnes two and two together carried them up and down with him in Palankees, (after deſcribed) to which they were tyed, and the other two went by them, fanning the flyes from off them; and the King cauſed a pair of ſilver …ongs to be made on purpoſe, that with them when he pleaſed, he might feed thoſe dogs with his own hand. But this ſtory by the way.
The Mogol hath many of his great Elephants train'd up for the war, who carry each of them one iron gun, about five foot long, lying upon a ſtrong frame of wood, made ſquare that is fitted to a thick broad Pannel faſtned about him; with very ſtrong and broad Girſes or Girts. The gun like an Harquebuſh hath a peece of iron like a Musket-reſt faſtned on the ſides thereof, made looſe to play up and down. The bottome of that Iron Reſt ſo fixed, is long, to be let through that frame of wood on the foreſide, and ſo to be keyed in at the bottom. At the four corners of this frame are ſmall flags of ſilk, with ſundry devices painted on them, put upon little neat coloured ſtaves; upon the neck of the Elephant ſits a man to guide him, and within the frame a Gunner, to make his ſhot as he finds occaſion. The peece thus mounted, carrves a bullet about the bigneſs of a Tennis Ball.
Some Elephants the King keeps for the execution of Malefactors, the manner how, followes in Section 23. And ſome he keeps to carry himſelf, and women; and ſome Elephants are kept for State (of which more when I ſhall come to ſpeak more particularly of the great Mogol.) Other Elephants are there imployed for the carrying of burdens▪ their ſtrength being ſo great as that they will bear a marvailous weight.
The Elephants are all governed with a ſmall rod of ſteel about half a yard long, made ſharp on the lower end, and towards that end there is an hook returned, life a fiſh-hook, that is very ſharp likewiſe, by which their Riders ſitting on their necks, pull them back, or prick them forward at their pleaſure.
Theſe vaſt Creatures, though the Countrey be exceeding fruitfull, and all proviſions in it cheap, yet by reaſon of their huge bulk, if they be well kept and fed, are very chargeable in keeping; they are kept uſually under the ſhade of great trees, where by a ſtrong chain of iron upon one of their hinde leggs they faſten them. And as they ſtand, the abundance of flyes vex them, and therefore with their fore-feet they make duſt, (the ground uſually being very dry) and with their Trunks caſt the duſt about their bodyes to drive away thoſe flyes from them.
The King allowes every one of thoſe great male Elephants four femals, which in their language they call their wives. Theſe brutes (as they ſay) will not endure any to behold them when they are coupling together; which may condemn many who call themſelves men and women, but have ſo loſt all modeſty, that they are not aſhamed when they commit any act of filthineſs, no they are not aſhamed, neither can they bluſh. The Female Elephants (as they further ſay) carry their young, one whole year ere they bring them forth, Thirty years expire ere they come to their full growth, and they fulfill the accuſtomed age of men ere they dye. And laſtly, notwithſtanding the great Number there of thoſe vaſt Creatures, and the exceſſive charge in keeping them well, they value them at exceeding high rates.
For this people, when as they journey from place to place, the men of the inferiour ſort go all on foot, their women that cannot ſo travell, ride on little Oxen, inured to carry burdens, or on Aſſes, which carry their little children with them; the women like the men aſtride. Others that are of better quality ride on Horſes, Mules, Camels, Dromedaries, or elſe in ſlights Coaches with two wheeles covered on the top and back end, but the fore-part and ſides open, unleſs they carry women. Thoſe Coaches will carry four perſons beſide the driver, but two may lye at eaſe, and at length in them upon quilts, that ly in the body of them, upheld by girt-webb, with which they are bottom'd, which makes them by far more eaſie Theſe Coaches are covered for men of qualityr with ſome thing that is coſtly; much of ou Engliſh broad cloth that is dyed red, is there bought from us and imployed for that uſe. At the back end of this coach they have a long round bolſter, that reacheth both ſides, ſtuffed with Cotten-wool, and covered with Velvet or Sattin, or with ſome other thing that is rich. Theſe Coaches are drawn by Oxen, one yoak to a Coach, ſome of which Oxen have their ſhort hornes neatly tipped with ſilver plate, and ſome others with braſſe; and they have each of them a fine Collar of large round bells, ſome of them made of Silver. They are P…r…d & ſuted as our Coach-horſes for ſtature and colour; moſt of them thus imployed are white, and ſome pide, or ſpotted all over with ſeveral colours. They are guided with ſmall cords which goe through the parting of their Noſtrils, and ſo twixt their hornes into the Coach mans hand who by theſe reſtrain them when, and guides them how he pleaſeth, and when he would have them go on, pricks them forward with a ſ…al and ſhort ſtaff he keeps in his hand pointed like a goad. Theſe Oxen there are very neatly made, ſlender, ſtrait limb'd and not very large, but naturally very nimble, and by daily uſe made ſo fit to perform that labour, (being kept well ſhod) as that they go 20 miles a day & more, with good ſpeed. They keep thoſe Oxen for this ſervice, as their horſes, well dreſſed, and ſo well fed, that they be plump and fat, and conſequently very handſom to behold.
The men there of the greateſt rank and quality, ride ſometimes in thoſe Coaches, and ſometimes on their curious Horſes, and ſometimes on their brave Elephants but however they are carried, they have their horſes which wait upon thē, when they go abroad, that they may beſtride them when they pleaſe And at other times they ride on mens ſhoulders, in a ſlight thing they call a Palankee, made ſomewhat like a couch or ſtanding Pallat, covered with a Canopie, wherein a man may lye at his full length, as many of thoſe Grandees do, when they are removed from place to place, giving themſelves up to eaſe, and over unto thoſe ſins which follow it; and while they are thus carried, they make the ſhoulders and joints of thoſe that feel their heavy weight, to bow and buckle under their burdens. This as it ſhould ſeem was an ancient, but a baſe effeminacy ſometimes uſed in Rom. Juvenal in his firſt Satire, deſcribing a fat Lawyer thus carried.
Cauſidi…i, nova cum veniat Lectica, Mathoni….
Plena ipſo.—
Matho the pleader comes in his new Chaire,
Fild with himſelf; when he takes the air.
It had been well, if ſuch carriages as theſe had been never heard of, but in then heathen Rome, or amongſt poor blinded Indians. But, Vae nobis miſeris ad quos Paganorum vicia tranſterunt. Wo to us wretched people of this Nation, unto whom the vices of Pagans are derived. It was a curſe that the old Cretans were wont to wiſh might fall upon their greateſt enemies, that they might fall in love with evill cuſtomes. This doubtleſs is one amongſt many more, fallen upon us of this Nation, when ſome, not out of neceſſity, but choiſe, make other men their Pack-horſes to ride upon them, a thing (as I conceive of it) moſt unworthy of a man, as he is a man, ſo to do.
I am no Leveller, I hate the thought of it, as a wild fancy, and phrenſie that is moſt deſtructive; knowing, that there is an abſolute neceſſity amongſt men of ſuperiority and ſubordination, where ſome muſt command, and others obey. An head alone without inferiour members, is a monſter, not a body. Yet however, I would have all thoſe who are Masters and Superiours, ſo to demean themſelves towards their underlings & ſervants in all things, as always remembring that they have a Maſter in Heaven, with whom there is no reſpect of perſons, Eph. 6. 9.
For men, let them exalt themſelves never ſo high, if they will not for the preſent learn, they ſhall one day be made to know, that there are higher than they. All great ones therefore, who over-look thoſe of low degree, believing themſelves taller than all of them by head and ſhoulders, had need of ſuch a daily remembrancer as Symonides was to Pauſanias; or that Page to Philip King of Macedon, who, by that Kings ſpecial commandement, was to cry every morning in his ears, foreign. Remember O King, that thou art but a man. I ſay, very many have need of ſuch remembrancers, (who exalt themſelves too much above others) to tell them, that they are but men. Homo ſum, humanum a me nil alienum puta. And being but men, ſhould do nothing but what well becomes humanity. Therefore though many which are very poor, who to gain bread are content to ſubmit themſelves unto any Low Conditions; yet others (twixt whom and them nothing ſo much as an inequality of eſtate makes the maine difference) ſhould not thus imploy them, if not for the mans, yet for his manhood ſake; not put ſuch a vaſt diſtance, ſuch a maine difference betwixt others and themſelves, made of the very ſelfeſame mould, and happily more graciouſly beheld by that inviſible eye than themſelves are, before whom they muſt firſt or laſt all appear, and that upon equal tearmes.
But I ſhall here degreſs no further; but return again to that people (I mean thoſe of quality amongſt them) who out of Pride, or Idleneſs, or both, are thus carried up and down, or by ſome other meanes I named before, though they remove never ſo little way from one place to another, accounting it very diſhonorable for them to go on foot. And ſo much of this. I ſhall now proceed, (having made mention of their huge multitudes of Horſes, and Elephants) &c. to take notice,