FRANCE: Elephant Walk

Ever since Hannibal, the boy-wonder general of ancient Carthage, performed the astonishing feat of leading 37 elephants and an army of some 45,000 over the Alps into northern Italy to attack Rome in 218 B.C., experts have speculated on what route he took across the mountains. Unlike Caesar, Hannibal penned no commentary, and experts have had to make do with the later writings of Polybius and Livy.

From such clues, students have proposed dozens of alternative routes. In Alps and Elephants, published in 1955, Britain’s Sir Gavin de Beer casts his vote for the Col de la Traversette, but analyzes 30 different books that have proposed no fewer than twelve different Alpine passes for Hannibal’s crossing. The most popular ones: Mont Genevre, Mont Cenis (Napoleon’s theory), and the treacherous Col Clapier. Last week a pint-sized re-creation of Hannibal’s horde wound its way through the French Alps toward Clapier pass, bent on proving that Hannibal could have used that pass, elephants and all.

According to Hoyte. The project is the dream of a studious British engineer named John Hoyte, who at 26 is three years younger than Hannibal was at the time of his invasion. Hoyte became a Hanniphile in 1955 while studying at Cambridge. In 1956 he led a reconnaissance group into the Alps to scout various possible routes, settled on Clapier pass because it fitted most of the meager clues left by the historians. Ancient accounts say Hannibal camped two days at the summit: the summit at Clapier pass is flat enough and big enough to hold a Hannibal-sized army. Other points that tally with old descriptions: from Clapier pass, the Po River Valley is visible, and a steep trail leads down in the direction of Turin. Hoyte’s next step: to prove the route was suitable for elephant travel within the time taken by Hannibal.

Last week Hoyte set out from the French village of Montmelian with seven companions (including a veterinary surgeon) and a 5,700-lb. female elephant named Jumbo, borrowed from the Turin zoo. In preparation for the trip, Jumbo was taken on long daily walks in hope that roadwork would condition her for the climb. Special leather-soled boots 30 in. high and weighing nearly 30 lbs. apiece were built to protect her feet. To guard against the cold and against bumps and scrapes in narrow passages, she was fitted with knee pads and a padded canvas overcoat. A three-ton food supply was rounded up for her.

Pampered Pachyderm. Hannibal had to fend off hostile rock throwers; Hoyte and Jumbo had only to ward off playful children, eager crowds, civic receptions, and toasts in vin d’honneur. Jumbo seemed to enjoy the march, placidly munching apples, dancing and playing the mouth organ for fascinated audiences, while trudging along at a steady pace of about 3 m.p.h. After a skittish first two nights, she got her normal nightly quota of four hours’ sleep.

At week’s end Hoyte’s progress corresponded roughly to Hannibal’s timetable, but the toughest part was yet to come. At the Clapier pass itself, the path is in some places less than 6 ft. wide, bounded by rising cliffs on one side, sheer 1,000-ft. drops on the other. In the first four days of the trek, Jumbo lost 300 lbs., but cheerfully contrived to put away her daily food ration of 150 lbs. of hay, 50 lbs. of apples, 40 lbs. of bread, 20 lbs. of carrots and half a pound of vitamin B. Hannibal’s elephants never had it so good.