USEFULLY CLEVER ELEPHANTS. 99

ellers tell us that some of them are as careful about the
neatness of their work as men could be! An elephant was
once seen to step back a few yards, as if to see whether it
had laid a block of stone straight, and then, apparently not
satisfied, it returned and pushed it into its right place !

Some years ago, an engineer in Ceylon had to lay pipes
to convey water nearly two miles, over hills and through

 

 

 

 

woods where there were no roads. To help him in his work,
he had to employ several elephants; and nothing could be
more interesting than to watch the way in which the ele-
phant engineers did their work. Lifting up one of the
heavy pieces of pipe, and balancing it with his trunk, each
animal would march off with its load, and carry it safely
over every obstacle, to the place where it was to be laid.