CHAPTER XIV.

                            DISEASES OF THE EYE.

                                        THE EYE.

It is a matter of common remark amongst those who have
much to do with elephants that a large percentage of them have
blemished eyes. Major Hawkes notes, of a batch of 27 elephants
examined, that one was totally blind, two nearly so, two blind in
one eye, one had cataract in both eyes, and three had partial
opacity of the cornea in both eyes. I think if we give the subject a
little consideration the cause of this high percentage will be readily
apparent.

The eye of the elephant is as delicate and sensitive as our own,
and the preservation of sight is a blessing to the animal and an
advantage to the owner ; yet mahouts are allowed (through ignorance
of owners or those in charge) to inflict intense suffering on these
creatures by blowing powdered glass, powders containing ingre-
dients such as lunar caustic, blue-stone, camphor, etc., into their
eyes to remove so-called films, or to treat the eyes with mixtures
(applied unsparingly) containing other irritating ingredients in
uncertain quantities, such as chillies, ginger, quicklime, preparations
of mercury. When such delicate organs are subjected to treatment
such as described, it is not surprising that we find so many elephants
whose vision is permanently impaired or totally lost.

It should be made clear to elephant attendants that any treat-
ment of the eyes carried out by them will result in their immediate
dismissal. Captain Forsyth, a careful observer and sympathetic
master, remarks : " The eyes of the elephant are extremely delicate
and appear to possess in an unusual degree a sympathetic con-
nection with the digestive organs. Nearly every indisposition of
the animal is accompanied by a clouding or suffusion of the eyes.
Few elephants that have been long caught, especially if in the hands
of natives, have perfect eyes." Note the remark " especially if in
the hands of natives." Mahouts are everlastingly tinkering with
their elephants ; if not treating their eyes, they are treating them
for some other supposed ailment. This amateur doctoring by them
is a curse in elephant establishments. If more attention was given
to seeing that these men take their animals to good grazing grounds,