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THE
WILD ELEPHANT.LONDON
BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.
NEW-STREET SQUARE
>RI NTEDTHE
WILD ELEPHANT
THE METHOD OF CAPTURING
AND TAMING IT IN
CEYLON;
II v
SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT, Bart.
K.C.S. LL.D. F.R.S. &c.
AUTHOR OF “CEYLON, AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND,
PHYSICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL,”
ETC.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1867.TO
MY INTELLIGENT COMPANION
IN MANY OF THE JOURNEYS THROUGHOUT THE MOUNTAINS AND
FORESTS OF CEYLON, IN THE COURSE OF WHICH MUCH
OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS
VOLUME WAS COLLECTED;
TO
MAJOR SKINNER,
CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF ROADS AND PUBLIC WORKS,
ETC. ETC.
ONE OF THE MOST EXPERIENCED AND VALUABLE SERVANTS OF
THE CROWN;
IT IS INSCRIBED,
IN THE HOPE THAT IT MAY RECALL TO HIM THE
PLEASANT MEMORIES WHICH IT
AWAKES IN ME.PREFACE.
In this volume, the chapters descriptive of the structure
and habits of the wild elephant are reprinted for the
sixth time from a larger work,1 published originally in
1859. Since the appearance of the First Edition, many
corrections and much additional matter have been
supplied to me, chiefly from India and Ceylon, and will
be found embodied in the following pages.
To one of these in particular I feel bound to direct
attention. In the course of a more enlarged essay on the
zoology of Ceylon,2 amongst other proofs of a geo-
logical origin for that island, distinct from that of the
adjacent continent of India, as evidenced by peculiarities
in the flora and fauna of each respectively, I had occasion
to advert to a discovery which had been recently an-
1	Ceylon : An Account of the of Ceylon. London, 1861. See also
Island, Physical, Historical, and To- Ceylon, etc. by Sir J. Emerson Ten-
pographical. 2 vols. 8vo. London, nent. London, i860, vol. 1. pp. 7,
Longmans & Co. 1859.	13, 85, 160, 183, &c.
2	Sketches of the Natural HistoryVlll
Preface.
nounced by Temminck in his Survey of the Dutch posses-
sions in the Indian Archipelago,l that the elephant which
abounds in Sumatra (although unknown in the adjacent
island of Java), and which had theretofore been regarded
as identical in species with the Indian one, has been
found to possess peculiarities, in which it differs as much
from the elephant of India as the latter does from its
African congener. On this new species, to which the
natives give the name of “gadjahf Temminck has
conferred the scientific designation of the Elephas Suma-
tranus. The points which entitle it to this distinction
he enumerates minutely in the work2 before alluded to,
and they have been summarized as follows by Prince
Lucien Bonaparte.
“ This species is perfectly intermediate between the
Indian and African, especially in the shape of the skull,
and will certainly put an end to the distinction between
Elephas and Loxodon, with those who admit that ana-
tomical genus; since although the crowns of the teeth of
E. Sumatranus are more like the Asiatic animal, still the
less numerous undulated ribbons of enamel are nearly
quite as wide as those forming the lozenges of the African.
The number of pairs of false ribs (which alone vary, the
true ones being always six) is fourteen, one less than in
1 Coup cfCEil general sur les 2 Temminck, Coup d'CEil, etc.
Possessions Neerlandaises dans rinde t. l. c. iv. p. 328 $ t. ii. c. iii. p. 91.
Archipelagique.IX
Preface.
the Africanus, one more than in the Indicus; and so it is
with the dorsal vertebrae, which are twenty in the Surna-
tranus (twenty-one and nineteen in the others), whilst the
new species agrees with Africanus in the number of
sacral vertebrae (four), and with Indicus in that of the
caudal ones, which are thirty four 11
1 Proceed. Zool. Soc. London,
1849, P* *44 note' The original
description of Temminck is as fol-
lows :
“ Elephas Sumatranus, Nob. res-
semble, par la forme generale du
crane, a l’elephant du continent de
FAsie; mais la partie libre des in-
termaxillaires est beaucoup plus
courte et plus etroite; les cavites
nasales sont beaucoup moins larges j
l’espace entre les orbites des yeux
est plus etroit; la partie posterieure
du crane au contraire est plus large
que dans Fespece du continent.
tc Les machelieres se rapprochent,
par la forme de leur couronne,
plutot de Fespece asiatique que de
celle qui est propre a FAfrique;
c’est-a-dire que leur couronne offre
la forme de rubans ondoyes et non
pas en losange; mais ces rubans
sont de la largeur de ceux qu’on voit
ala couronne des dents de l’elephant
d’Afrique $ ils sont consequemment
moins nombreux que dans celui du
continent de FAsie. Les dimen-
sions de ces rubans, dans la direction
d’avant en arriere, comparees a celles
prises dans la direction transversale
et laterale, sont en raison de 3 ou 4
a 1 $ tandis que dans l’elephant du
continent elles sont comme 4 ou
6 a 1, La longueur totale de six de
ces rubans, dans Fespece nouvelle
de Sumatra, ainsi que dans celle
d’Afrique, est d’environ 12 centi-
metres, tandis que cette longueur
n’est que de 8 a 10 centimetres dans
Fespece du continent de FAsie.
“ Les autres formes osteologiques
sont a peu pres les memes dans les
trois especes ; mais il y a difference
dans le nombre des os dont le
squelette se compose, ainsi que le
tableau comparatif ci-joint Feprouve.
“ IS elephas Africanus a 7 verte-
bres du cou, 21 vert, dorsales, 3
lombaires, 4 sacrees et 26 caudales j
21 paires de cotes, dont 6 vraies
et 15 fausses.	L'elephas Indicus
a 7 vertebres du cou, 19 dorsales,
3 lombaires, 5 sacrees et 34 cau-
dales, 19 paires de cotes, dont 6
vraies et 3 fausses. L'elephas Su-
matranus a 7 vertebres du cou, 20X
Preface.
Professor Schlegel of Leyden, in a paper lately
submitted by him to the Royal Academy of Sciences
of Holland, (the substance of which he obligingly
communicated to me, through Baron Bentinck the Ne-
therlands Minister at this Court), confirmed the iden-
tity of the Ceylon elephant with that found in the
Lampongs of Sumatra. The osteological comparison of
which Temminck has given the results was, he says, con-
ducted by himself with access to four skeletons of the
latter ; and the more recent opportunity of comparing
a living Sumatran elephant with one from Bengal, served
to establish other though minor points of divergence.
The Indian species is more robust and powerful;
the proboscis longer and more slender; and the extre-
mity, (a point in which the elephant of Sumatra resem-
bles that of Africa,) is more flattened and provided with
coarser and longer hair than that of India.
Professor Schlegel, adverting to the large export of
elephants from Ceylon to the Indian continent, which
has been carried on from time immemorial, suggests the
caution with which naturalists, in investigating this
question, should first satisfy themselves whether the ele-
dorsales, 3 lombaires, 4 sacrees et velle, un male et une femelle adultes
34 caudales; 20 paires de cotes, et un jeune male. Nous n’avons
dont 6 vraies et 14 fausses.	pas encore ete a meme de nous
“ Ces caracteres ont ete constates procurer la depouille de cette
sur trois squelettes de l’espece nou- espece.’*XI
Preface.
phants they examine are really natives of the mainland,
or whether they have been brought to it from the islands.
“ The extraordinary fact,” he observes in his letter to me,
“ of the identity thus established between the elephants
of Ceylon and Sumatra, and the points in which they are
found to differ from that of Bengal, leads to the question
whether all the elephants of the Asiatic continent belong
to one single species ; or whether these vast regions may
not produce in some quarter as yet unexplored the one
hitherto found only in the two islands referred to ? It is
highly desirable that naturalists who have the means and
opportunity, should exert themselves to discover, whether
any traces are to be found of the Ceylon elephant in the
Dekkan; or of that of Sumatra in Cochin China or
Siam.”
To me the establishment of a fact so conclusively con-
firmatory of the theory I had ventured to broach, was
productive of great satisfaction. But in an essay by Dr.
Falconer, since published in the Natural History
Review for January 1863, “ On the Living and Extinct
Species of Elephants,” he adduces reasons for question-
ing the accuracy of these views as to Elephas Sumatranus.
The idea of a specific distinction between the elephants of
India and Ceylon, Dr. Falconer shows to have been pro-
pounded as far back as 1834, by Mr. B. H. Hodgson, the
eminent ethnologist and explorer of the zoology of Nepal;
Dr. Falconer’s own inspection however of the examples ofxii	Preface.
both as preserved in the Museum of Leyden, not only
did not lead him to accept the later conclusion of
Schlegel and Temminck, but induced him to doubt
the correctness of the statements published by the Prince
of Canino, both as to the external and the osteological
characters of the Indian elephant. As to the former, he
declares that the differences between it and the elephant
of Ceylon are so trifling, as not to exceed similar pecu-
liarities observable between elephants taken in different
regions of continental India, where an experienced
mahout will tell at a glance, whether a newly captured
animal was taken in the Sal forests of the North-Western
Provinces,, in Assam, in Silhet, Chittagong, Tipperah, or
Cuttack. The osteological distinctions and the odonto-
graphy, Dr. Falconer contends, are insufficient to sustain
the alleged separateness of species. He equally discredits
the alleged differences regarding the ribs and dorsal
vertebrae, and he concludes that, “ on a review of the
whole case, the evidence in every aspect appears to him
to fail in showing that the elephant of Ceylon and
Sumatra is of a species distinct from that of continental
India.”1 He thinks it right, however, to add, that the
subject is one which “ should be thoroughly investigated,”
as the hasty assumption that the elephants of Ceylon and
Sumatra belong to distinct species has been put forward
The Natural History Review, January 1863, pp. 81, 96.Xlll
Preface.
to support the conjecture of a geological formation for
the island of Ceylon distinct from that of the mainland
of India; a proposition to which Dr. Falconer is not
prepared to accede.
Having ventured to originate the latter theory, and
having sustained it by Schlegel’s authority as regards the
elephant of Sumatra, I think it is incumbent on me to
give becoming prominence to the opposite view en-
tertained by one so eminently entitled to consideration as
Dr. Falconer.
In the course of my observations on the structure and
functions of the elephant, I have ventured an opinion
that an animal of such ponderous and peculiar construc-
tion, is formed chiefly for progression by easy and steady
paces, and is too weighty and unwieldy to leap, at least
to any considerable height or distance. But this opinion
I felt bound to advance with reserve, as I had seen
in an interesting article in the Colombo Observer for
March 1866, descriptive of a recent corral, the state-
ment that an infuriated elephant had “fairly leaped a
barrier 15 feet high, only carrying away the upper cross-
beam with a crash.” (See p. 40.) Doubtful of some
inaccuracy in the measurements, I took the precaution of
writing to Mr. Ferguson, the editor, to solicit further
enquiry. Since the following pages have been printed, I
have received from that gentleman the correction, which
I now subjoin.xiv	Preface.
“ My dear Sir Emerson,—I have just had a letter from
Mr. Samuel Jayetileke, the Cutchery Modliar of Kome-
galle, in reply to my queries about the height of the
fence over which the elephant sprang. The result is the
usual one whenever exact measurements are substituted
for guess-work. I stated 15 feet as the height of the
fence, and this was the information given to me at the
time. But the report of Kumbowattewene, the Rate-
mahat-meya who has since gone to measure the place, is,
that where the elephant leaped over, the height was 12
feet. The exact height of the leap was however only
9 feet; for besides that in his rush he knocked away the
top bar, it is found that in the corner at which he escaped,
there is a mound formed by a white ant’s nest, two and
a half feet high, on which he must have climbed to
help him over. I trust this information may be in time
to prevent my original statement from going forth without
modification in your new book. The leap is still a pretty
good one.—Yours faithfully, A. M. Ferguson, Observer
Office,, Colombo, December 14, 1866.”
J. Emerson Tennent.
Tempo Manor, Enniskillen:
October 1, 1866.CONTENTS.
PART I.
HABITS IN A STATE OF NATURE.
CHAPTER I.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.
PAGE
Vast numbers in Ceylon .	4
Derivation of the word “ele-
phant,” note ...	ib.
Antiquity of the trade in ele-
phants ....	5
Numbers now diminishing .	ib.
Mischief done by them to
crops ....	ib.
Ivory scarce in Ceylon .	6
Conjectures as to the absence
of tusks .	. ' .	.	7
Elephant a harmless animal.	9
Alleged antipathies to other
animals .	.	.	.11
PAGE
Fights with each other	.	15
The foot its chief weapon	.	16
Use of the tusks in a wild
state doubtful .	.	17
Anecdote of sagacity in an
elephant at Kandy .	.	19
Difference between African
and Indian species .	.	20
Native ideas of perfection in
an elephant .	.	.21
Blotches on the skin	.	.	22
White elephants	not	un-
known in Ceylon .	.	23
CHAPTER II.
HABITS WHEN WILD.
Water, but not heat, essential
to elephants .
Sight limited
Caution
25	Smell acute
26	Hearing good
26
27
ib.
aXVI
Contents.
PAGE
Cries of the elephant .	.	27
Trumpeting ...	28
Booming noise ...	29
Height, exaggerated .	.	30
Facility of stealthy motion .	31
Ancient delusion	as	to	the
joints of the leg	.	.	32
Its exposure by	Sir Thos.
Browne .... ib.
Its perpetuation by poets and
others .	.	.	.	35
Position of the elephant in
sleep ....	38
An elephant killed on its feet	39
Mode of lying down .	.	40
Its gait a shuffle .	.	.	ib.
Power of climbing moun-
tains ....	41
Facilitated by the joint of the
knee ....	43
Mode of descending decli-
vities, note .	.	.	ib.
A “herd ” is a family .	.	45
Attachment to their young .	46
Suckled indifferently by the
females ....	ib.
A “rogue” elephant .	.	47
Their cunning and vice .	48
Injuries done by them .	49
The leader of a herd a tusker	50
Bathing and nocturnal gam-
bols, description of a scene
by Major Skinner .	.	51
Method of swimming .	.	55
Internal anatomy imperfectly
known ....	56
Faculty of storing water .	58
Peculiarity of the stomach .	59
The food of the elephant .	63
Sagacity in search of it .	64
Unexplained dread of fences	65
Its spirit of inquisitiveness .	67
Anecdotes illustrative of its
curiosity.... ib.
Estimate of sagacity	.	.	68
Singular conduct	of	a herd
during thunder	.	.	ib.
An elephant feigning death .	70
Appendix. —Narratives of na-
tives, as to encounters with
rogue elephants	.	.	71
CHAPTER III.
ELEPHANT SHOOTING.
Vast numbers shot in Ceylon 77
Revolting details of elephant
killing in Africa, note .	78
Fatal spots at which to aim .	79
Structure of the bones of the
head .... ib.
Wounds which are certain to
kill ....	80
Attitudes when surprised .	83
Peculiar movements when
reposing.	.	.	.	84
Habits when attacked .	85Contents.
XVII
PAGE
Sagacity of native trackers .	86
Courage and agility of the
elephants in escape	.	87
PAGE
Worthlessness of the carcass 89
Note. —Singularrecovery from
a wound ....	90
PART II.
MODE OF CAPTURE AND TRAINING.
CHAPTER I.
AN ELEPHANT CORRAL.
Early method of catching ele-
phants ....	96
Capture in pit-falls, note .	id.
By means of decoys .	.	97
Panickeas—their courage and
address ....	ib.
Their sagacity in following
the elephant	.	.	. ib.
Mode of capture by the
noose .	.	.	.99
Mode of taming	.	.	.100
Method of leading the ele-
phants to the coast .	.	101
Process of embarking them
at Manaar	.	.	.102
Method of capturing a whole
herd ....	103
The “ keddah ” in Bengal de-
scribed .	.	.	.104
Process of enclosing a herd . ib.
Process of capture in Ceylon 105
1 An elephant corral and its
construction	.	.	.	105
An elephant hunt in Ceylon,
1847	....	106
The town and district of Kor-
negalle .... ib.
The rock of Aetagalla. .	107
Forced labour of the corral
in former times	.	.	no
Now given voluntarily . in
Form of the enclosure. .	112
Method of securing a wild
herd .	.	.	.114
Scene when driving them into
the corral	.	.	.116
A failure .... ib.
An elephant drove by night.	118
Singular scene in the corral.	119
Excitement of the tame ele-
phants, note	.	.	.	ib.XV111
Contents.
CHAPTER II.
THE CAPTIVE.
PAGE
A night scene	.	.	.	121
Morning in the corral .	ib.
Preparations for securing the
captives .	.	.	.122
The “ cooroowe,” ornoosers ib.
The tame decoys .	.123
First captive tied up .	.	124
Singular conduct of the wild
elephants	.	.	.126
Furious attempts of the herd
to escape	.	.	.127
Courageous conduct of the
natives .	.	.	.128
Variety of disposition exhi-
bited by the herd .	.	131
Extraordinary contortions of
the captives	.	.	. ib.
Water withdrawn from the
stomach .	.	.	.	133
Instinct of the decoys .	.	tb.
Conduct of the noosers	.	136
PAGE
The young ones and their
actions .	.	.	*137
Noosing a “rogue,” and his
death ....	138
Instinct of flies in search of
carrion, note .	.	.139
Strange scene .	.	.	140
A second herd captured .	142
Their treatment of a solitary
elephant. .	.	.	143
A magnificent female ele-
phant ....	144
Her extraordinary attitudes . ib.
Wonderful contortions .	145
Taking the captives out of
the corral .	.	147
Their subsequent treatment
and training .	.	.148
Grandeur of the scene .	.	ib.
Story of young pet ele-
phant ....	149
CHAPTER III.
TRAINING AND CONDUCT IN CAPTIVITY.
Alleged superiority of the
Indian to the African ele-
phant—not true	.	.150
Ditto of Ceylon elephant to
Indian .	.	.	.152
Process of training in Ceylon 155
Allowed to bathe	.	.	156
Difference of disposition .	158
Sudden death of “broken
heart ” .	.	160
First employment treading clay ....		161
Drawing a waggon		ib.
Dragging timber.		ib.
Sagacity in labour		ib.
Mode of raising stones		162Contents.
xix
Strength in throwing down		PAGE	Working elephants, delicate.	PAGE 170
trees exaggerated		ib.	Deaths in Government stud.	171
Piling timber		163	Diseases ....	172
Not uniform in habits	of		Subject to tooth-ache .	ib.
work		164	Question of the value of la-	
Lazy if not watched		165	bour of an elephant.	174
Obedience to keeper from			Food in captivity, and cost .	175
affection, not fear .		ib.	Breed in captivity	176
Change of keeper—story	of		Age		177
child .		166	Theory of M. Fleurens	ib.
Ear for sounds and music		167	No dead elephants found	179
Ur-re! note		ib.	Sindbad’s story .	181
Endurance of pain		168	Appendix. — Passage from	
Docility		169	iElian ....	183LIST
OF
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
View of an Elephant Corral ..... Frontispiece
Brain of the Elephant	.......	26
The Trunk as figured in the fifteenth century ...	28
Bones of the Fore-leg .	.	.	.	.	.	41
Elephant descending a Hill .......	44
Elephant’s Well.......................................55
Elephant’s Stomach, showing the Water-cells	59
Elephant’s Trachea .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.60
Water-cells in the Stomach of the Camel ....	62
Section of the Elephant’s Skull ......	80
Ground Plan and Fence of a Corral	.	.	.	.	.112
Noosing Wild Elephants	.	.	.	.	.	.to face 124
Mode of tying an Elephant	.	.	.	.	.	.	.126
His Struggles for Freedom............................127
Impotent Fury........................................130
Singular Contortions of an Elephant	.	.	.	.	.132
Attitudes of Captives .	.	.	.	.	.	.to face 134
Obstinate Resistance........................ .	135
Attitude for Defence .	.	.	.	.	.	.	147
Figures of the African and Indian Elephants on Greek and
Roman Coins .	.	.	.	.	.	.	*151
Medal of Numidia .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	156
Modern Hendoo ......... ib.PART /.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.
BTHE
WILD ELEPHANT.
CHAPTER I.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.
During my residence in Ceylon, I had on two occasions
opportunities of witnessing the operation on a grand
scale, of capturing wild elephants, intended to be trained
for the Government service in the establishment of the
Civil Engineer and Commissioner of Roads;—and in
the course of my frequent journeys through the interior
of the island, I succeeded in collecting so many facts
relative to the habits of these animals so interesting in
a state of nature, as enable me not only to add to the
information previously possessed, but to correct some of
the fallacies popularly entertained regarding their disposi-
tion and instincts. These particulars I am anxious to
place on record before proceeding to describe the scenes
I allude to, during the progress of the elephant hunts in
the district of the Seven Kories, at which I was present
in 1846, and again in 1847.
B 24
The Wild Elephant.
With the exception of the narrow but densely inha-
bited belt of cultivated land, that extends along the
seaborde from Chilaw on the western coast towards
Tangalle on the south-east, there is no part of Ceylon
in which elephants may not be said to abound ; even
close to the environs of the most populous localities of
the interior. They frequent both the open plains and
the deep forests; and their footsteps are to be seen
wherever food and shade, vegetation and water,1 allure
1 M. Ad. Pictet has availed him-
self of the love of the elephant for
water, to found on it a solution of the
long-contested question as to the ety-
mology of the word “elephant,”—a
term which, whilst it has passed into
almost every dialect of the West,
is scarcely to be traced in any lan-
guage of Asia. The Greek e\e<f>a$, to
which we are immediately indebted for
it, did not originally mean the animal,
but, as early as the time of Homer,
was applied only to its tusks, and sig-
nified ivory. Bochart has sought
for a Semitic origin, and seizing on
the Arabic fil, and prefixing the article
al, suggests alfil, akin to e\e<f>; but
rejecting this, Bochart himself resorts
to the Hebrew elefih, an “ox”—and
this conjecture derives a certain degree
of countenance from the fact that the
Romans, when they obtained their first
sight of the elephant in the army of
Pyrrhus, in Lucania, called it the
Luca bos. But the avros is still unac-
counted for; and Pott has sought to
remove the difficulty by introducing
the Arabic kindi, Indian, thus making
eleph hindi, (ibos Indicus.” The con-
version of hindi into avros is an obstacle,
but here the example of “ tamarind ”
comes to aid; tamar hindi, the “ In-
dian date,” which in mediaeval Greek
forms TafidpePTi. A theory of Benary,
that eAe'^as might be compounded of
the Arabic al, and ibha, a Sanskrit
name for the elephant, is exposed to
still greater etymological exception.
Pictet’s solution is, that in the San-
skrit epics “the King of Elephants,”
who has the distinction of carrying the
god Indra, is called airavata or aira-
vana, a modification of airavantay
“ son of the ocean,” which again comes
from iravat, “abounding in water.”
“ Nous aurions done ainsi, comme cor-
relatif du grec e\i<f>avTa, une ancienne
forme, dirdvanta ou dildvanta, affai-
blie plus tard en dirdvata ou dirdvana.
.... On connait la predilection de
l’elephant pour le voisinage des fleuves,
et son amour pour l’eau, dont 1’abon-
dance est necessaire a son bien-etre.”
This Sanskrit name, Pictet supposes,
may have been carried to the West by
the Phoenicians, who were the pur-
veyors of ivory from India; and, from
the Greek, the Latins derived elephasy
which passed into the modern lan-
guages of Italy, Germany, and France.
But it is curious that the Spaniards
acquired from the Moors their Arabic
term for ivory, marfil, and the Portu-
guese marfim; and that the Scandi-
navians, probably from their early ex-
peditions to the Mediterranean, adopted
fill as their name for the elephant
itself, and fil-bein for ivory; in Danish,Their numbers in Ceylon.	5
them, alike on the summits of the loftiest mountains, and
on the borders of the tanks and lowland streams.
From time immemorial the Singhalese have been
taught to capture and tame them, and the export of
elephants from Ceylon to India has been going on with-
out interruption from the period of the first Punic War.1
In later times in all forests elephants were the property
of the Kandyan crown; and their capture or slaughter
without the royal permission was classed amongst grave
offences in the criminal code.
In recent years there is reason to believe that their
numbers have become considerably reduced. They have
entirely disappeared from localities in which they were
formerly numerous;2 smaller herds have been taken in
the periodical captures for the public service, and hunters
returning from the chase report them to be growing year
by year more and more scarce. In consequence of this
diminution the natives in some parts of the island have
even suspended the ancient practice of keeping watchers
and fires by night to scare away elephants from their
growing crops.3 The opening of roads too in the hill
fils-ben. (See Journ. Asiat. 1843,
t. xliii. p. 133.) The Spaniards of South
America call the palm which produces
the vegetable ivory {Phytelephas ma-
crocarpd) Palma de marfil, and the
nut itself, marfil vegetal.
Since the above was written Goone-
ratne Modliar, the Singhalese Inter-
preter to the Supreme Court at Colom-
bo, has supplied me with another
conjecture, that the word elephant may
possibly be traced to the Singhalese
name of the animal, alia, which means
literally, “the huge one.” Alia, he
adds, is not a derivation from Sanskrit
or Pali, but belongs to a dialect more
ancient than either.
1 ^Elian, de Nat. Anim. lib. xvi.
c. 18; Cosmas Indicopl. p. 128.
a Le Brun, who visited Ceylon a. d.
1705, says that in the district round
Colombo, where elephants are now
never seen, they were then so abun-
dant, that 160 had been taken in a
single corral.	(Voyage, etc. tom. ii.
ch. lxiii. p. 331.)
3 In some parts of Bengal, where
elephants were formerly troublesome6
The Wild Elephant.
districts, and the clearing of the mountain forests of
Kandy for the cultivation of coffee, have forced the
animals to retire to the low country, where again they
have been followed by large parties of European sports-
men ; and the Singhalese themselves, being more freely
provided with arms than in former times, have assisted in
swelling the annual slaughter.1
Had the motive that incites to the destruction of the
elephant in Africa and India prevailed in Ceylon, that is,
had the elephants there been provided with tusks, they
would long since have been annihilated for the sake of
the ivory.2 But it is a curious fact that, whilst in Africa
and India both sexes have tusks,3 with some slight
(especially near the wilds of Ramgur),
the natives got rid of them by mixing
a preparation of the poisonous Nepal
root called dakra in balls of grain, and
other materials, of which the animal is
fond. In Cuttack, above fifty years
ago, mineral poison was laid for them
in the same way, and the carcases of
eighty were found which had been
killed thus. (Asiat. Res. xv. 183.)
1 The number of elephants has been
similarly reduced throughout the south
of India, and as in the advancing
course of. enclosure and cultivation,
the area within which they will be
driven must become more and more
contracted, the conjecture is by no
means problematical, that before many
generations shall have passed away, the
species may become extinct in Asia.
a The annual importation of ivory
into Great Britain alone, for the last
few years, has been about one million
pounds; which, taking the average
weight of a tusk at sixty pounds, would
require the slaughter of 8,333 male
elephants.
But of this quantity the importation
from Ceylon has generally averaged
only five or six hundred weight; which,
making allowance for the lightness of
the tusks, would not involve the de-
struction of more than seven or eight
in each year. At the same time, this
does not fairly represent the annual
number of tuskers shot in Ceylon, not
only because a portion of the ivory
finds its way to China and to other
places, but because the chiefs and
Buddhist priests have a passion for col-
lecting tusks, and the finest and largest
are to be found ornamenting their
temples and private dwellings. The
Chinese profess that for their exquisite
carvings the ivory of Ceylon excels all
other, both in density of texture and in
delicacy of tint; but in the European
market, the ivory of Africa, from its
more distinct graining, and other causes,
obtains a higher price.
3 A writer in the Indian Sporting
Review for October 1857 says, “ In
Malabar a tuskless male elephant is
rare; I have seen but two.” (P. 157.)7
Absence of Tusks in Ceylon.
disproportion in the size of those of the females ; in
Ceylon, not one elephant in a hundred is found with
tusks, and the few that possess them are exclusively
males. Nearly all, however, have those stunted pro-
cesses called tushes, about ten or twelve inches in length
and one or two in diameter. These I have observed
them to use in loosening earth, stripping off bark, and
snapping asunder small branches and climbing plants;
and hence tushes are seldom seen without a groove worn
into them near their extremities.1
Amongst other surmises more ingenious than sound,
the general absence of tusks in the elephant of Ceylon
has been associated with the profusion of rivers and
streams in the island; whilst it has been thrown out as
a possibility that in Africa, where water is comparatively
scarce, the animal is equipped with these implements in
order to assist it in digging wells in the sand and in
raising the juicy roots of the mimosas and succulent
plants for the sake of their moisture. In support of this
hypothesis, it has been observed, that whilst the tusks of
the Ceylon species, which are never required for such
uses, are slender, graceful and curved, seldom exceeding
fifty or sixty pounds’ weight, those of the African ele-
1 The old fallacy is still renewed p. iio), says, “ the tusks are shed about
that the elephant sheds his tusks, the twelfth or thirteenth year.” This
./Elian says he drops them once in ten is erroneous: after losing the first pair,
years (lib. xiv. c. 5); and Pliny repeats or, as they are called, the “milk tusks,”
the story, adding that, when dropped, which drop in consequence of the ab-
the elephants hide them under ground sorption of their roots, when the animal
(lib. viii.) whence Shaw says, in his is extremely young, the second pair
Zoology, “ they are frequently found in acquire their full size, and become the
the woods,” and exported from Africa “permanent tusks,” which are never
(vol. i. p. 213); and Sir W. Jardine shed,
in the Naturalist's Library (vol. ix.8
The Wild Elephant.
phant are straight and thick, weighing occasionally 150
pounds, and even 300 pounds.1 But it is manifestly
inconsistent with the idea that tusks were given to the
elephant to assist in digging for food, to find that the
females are less bountifully supplied with them than the
1 I have no means of ascertaining
the dimensions of the largest tusks sup-
posed to have been obtained in conti-
nental India. Of those that I have
myself seen the greatest was taken from
an elephant killed by Sir Victor Brooke
Bart, at the Hassanoor Hills, in Coim-
batore in 1863. It measured 8 feet in
length, and when placed on end two
men each 6 feet high can with ease
stand side by side under the curved ex-
tremity. It is i ft. 6 in. in circumfer-
ence at the base and weighs no lbs.
This remarkable tusk is now in the
museum at Colebrooke Park in the
county Fermanagh. Its companion,
owing to disease, is a distorted lump
of ivory; an almost shapeless mass
weighing 6o lbs. The life-long agony
endured by the poor animal who bore
it must have been frightful in the ex-
treme. Notwithstanding the inferior-
ity in weight of the Ceylon tusks, as
compared with those of the elephant
of India, it would, I think, be preci-
pitate to draw the inference that the
size of the former was uniformly and
naturally less than that of the latter.
The truth I believe to be, that if
permitted to grow to maturity, the
tusks of the one would, in all proba-
bility, equal those of the other; but, so
eager is the search for ivory in Ceylon,
that a tusker, when once observed in
a herd, is followed up with such vigilant
impatience, that he is almost invari-
ably shot before attaining his full
growth. General De Lima, when re-
turning from the governorship of the
Portuguese settlements at Mozambi-
que, told me, in 1848, that he had
been requested to procure two tusks of
the largest size, and straightest possible
shape, which were to be formed into a
cross to surmount the high altar of the
cathedral at Goa : he succeeded in his
commission, and sent two, one of which
was 180 pounds’ and the other 170
pounds’ weight, with the slightest pos-
sible curve. In a periodical entitled
The Friend, published in Ceylon, it is
stated in the volume for 1837 that the
officers belonging to the ships Quorrah
and Alburhak, engaged in the Niger
Expedition, were shown by a native
king two tusks, each two feet and a half
in circumference at the base, eight feet
long, and weighing upwards of 200
pounds. (Vol. i. p. 225.) Broderip,
in his Zoological Recreations, p. 255,
says a tusk of 350 pounds’ weight was
sold at Amsterdam, but he does not
quote his authority. Petherick in his
Account of Egypt, Soudan, &c. says
that in Central Africa the size of tusks
differs in different latitudes, those to-
wards the north being shorter, thicker,
less hollow, and heavier than those of the
south. Thus a tusk from the Nouaer,
Dinka, or Shilook tribes will weigh
120 lbs., while one from Bari would
weigh only 70 lbs. or 80 lbs. “ Indeed,”
he adds, “ I have known a tusk from
Nouaer to weigh 185 lbs., its length
being seven feet two inches, and its
greatest thickness at the base nitte in-
ches.” (Petherick, p. 418.) Sir S.
Baker, in his explorations of the White
Nile, saw monster tusks of 160 lbs. ;
and one in the possession of a trader
weighed 172 lbs {The A IbertNyanza,
vol. i. p. 273.)Peaceful and harmless.	9
males, whilst the necessity for their use extends alike to
both sexes. The same consideration serves to demon-
strate the fallacy of the conjecture, that the tusks of the
elephant were given as weapons of offence, for if such
were the case the vast majority of them in Ceylon, males
as well as females, would be left helpless in presence of
an assailant. But although in their conflicts with one
another, those which are provided with tusks may occa-
sionally push clumsily with them at an opponent, it is a
misapprehension to imagine that tusks are designed, as
has been stated, to serve “ in warding off the attacks of
the wily tiger and the furious rhinoceros, often securing
the victory by one blow which transfixes the assailant to
the earth.” 1
So peaceable and harmless is the life of the elephant,
that nature appears to have left it unprovided with any
special weapon of offence : the trunk is too delicate an
organ to be rudely employed in a conflict with other
animals, and although on an emergency it may push or
gore with its tusks (to which the French have hastily
given the designation of “ defenses ”), their almost ver-
tical position, added to the difficulty of raising its head
above the level of the shoulder, is inconsistent with the
idea of their being designed for attack, since it is impos-
sible for the animal to deliver an effectual blow, or to
1 Menageries, etc. published by the viously existing regarding the elephant.
Society for the Diffusion of Useful The author incorporates no speculations
Knowledge, vol. i. p. 68 : “ The Ele- of his own, but has most diligently and
phant,” ch. iii. It will be seen that I agreeably arranged all the facts col-
have quoted repeatedly from this vo- lected by his predecessors. The story
lume, because it is the most compendious of antipathy between the elephant and
and careful compilation with which I rhinoceros is probably borrowed from
am acquainted of the information pre- ^Elian de Nat. lib. xvii. c. 44.IO
The Wild Elephant
“ wield ” its tusks as the deer and the buffalo can wield
their horns.1 Nor is it easy to conceive under what
circumstances an elephant could have a hostile encounter
with a rhinoceros or a tiger, since their respective pur-
suits in a state of nature can in no way conflict.
Towards man the elephant evinces shyness, arising
from love of solitude and dislike of intrusion ; any alarm
exhibited at his appearance may be reasonably traced to
the slaughter which has reduced their numbers ; and as
some evidence of this, it has always been observed in
Ceylon that an elephant manifests greater impatience of
the presence of a white man than of a native. Were its
instincts to carry it further, or were it influenced by any
feeling of animosity or malignity, it must be apparent that,
as against the prodigious numbers that inhabit the forests
of the island, man would wage an unequal contest, and
that of the two, one or other must long since have been
reduced to a helpless minority.
Official testimony is not wanting in confirmation of this
view : in the returns of 108 coroner’s inquests in Ceylon,
during five years from 1849 to 1855 inclusive, held in
cases of death occasioned by wild animals, 15 are re-
corded as having been caused by buffaloes, 6 by croco-
1 “The Correspondence of Madrid more attacks, which the elephant re-
gives the following account of a fight sented by killing him with his tusks,
between a Ceylon elephant and two The conqueror did not seem in the
bulls, which took place at Saragossa:— least excited, but quietly drank some
‘The elephant was walking quietly water offered by his keeper, and ate
about the arena when the first bull several ears of Indian com. A second
was released and rushed at it with all bull was then released, and in a few
his might. The elephant received his minutes suffered the same fate as the
antagonist with great coolness, and first.”’ [Globe, Nov. 9, 1864.) The
threw him down with the utmost ease. Times says the elephant killed it “ with
The bull rose again and made two a thrtist of his tusks.”Alleged antipathy to other Animals, n
diles, 2 by boars, i by a bear, and 68 by serpents (the
great majority of the last class of sufferers being women
and children, who had been bitten during the night), and
16 by elephants. Little more than three fatal accidents
occurring annually on the average of five years, is cer-
tainly a very small proportion in a population estimated
at a million and a half, in an island abounding with
wild elephants, with which, independently of casual en-
counters, voluntary conflicts are daily stimulated by the
love of sport or the hope of gain. Were the elephants
instinctively vicious or even highly irritable in their tem-
perament, the destruction of human life under the cir-
cumstances must have been infinitely greater. It must
also be taken into account, that some of the accidents
recorded may have occurred in the rutting season, when
even tame elephants are subject to fits of temporary fury,
known in India by the term must, in Ceylon mudda,—a
paroxysm which speedily passes away, but during the fury
of which it is dangerous even for the mahout who has
charge of them to approach those ordinarily the gentlest
and most familiar.
Again, the elephant is said to “ entertain an extraordi-
nary dislike to all quadrupeds ; that dogs running near it
produce annoyance ; that it is alarmed if a hare start
from her form ; ” and from Pliny to Buffon every natu-
ralist has asserted its supposed aversion to swine.1 These
1 Menageries, etc. : “ The Elephant,” elephant to swine is embodied in the
ch. iii. In the Anglo-Saxon Epistola text and is thus rendered in the Latin
Alexandri ad Aristotelem, which has version: “Pervenimusdemum ad silvas
been printed by Cockayne in his Nar- Indorum ultimas; ubi cum castra collo-
rativncvlce Anglice conscriptce, the cavissemus, ceperamus velle epulari sub
belief in the alleged antipathy of the nocte hora xi; cum subito pabulatores12
The Wild Elephant.
alleged antipathies are in a great degree, if not altogether,
imaginary. The habits of the elephant are essentially
harmless, its wants lead to no rivalry with other animals,
and the food to which it is most attached flourishes in
such luxuriance that abundance of it is obtained without
an effort. In the quiet solitudes of Ceylon, elephants
may be seen browsing peacefully in the immediate
vicinity of other animals, and often in close contact with
them. I have seen groups of deer and wild buffaloes
reclining in the sandy bed of a river in the dry season,
and elephants plucking the branches above and beside
them. They show no impatience in the company of the
elk, the bear, and the wild hog; and on the other hand, I
have never discovered an instance in which these animals
have evinced any apprehension of the elephant. Its
natural timidity, however, is such that it becomes alarmed
on the appearance in the jungle of any animal with whose
form it is not familiar. It is said to be afraid of the
horse; but from my own experience, I should say it is
the horse that is disquieted at the aspect of the elephant.
In the same way, from some unaccountable impulse, the
lignatoresque exanimes nunciabant, ut
celeriter arma caperemus, venire e
silvis elephantorum immensas greges
ad expugnanda castra. Imperavi ergo
Thessalicis equitibus ut ascenderent
equos, secumque tollerent sues, quo-
rum grunnitus timere bestias noveram,
etoccurrere quam primum elephantis
jussi..........nec mora trepidantes
elephanti conversi sunt. Quieta nox
fuit usque ad lucem.” (P. 58.) Another
allusion to the same legendary inci-
dent will be found in the Lyfe of
Alisaundery one of the most ancient
English romances, reprinted by Weber
in his Metrical Romances of the 13th,
14th, and i$tk Centuries.
“ Forth went the kyng thennes with hy;
Of the forme-ward he herd grete cry
For hy weren assailed of olifauntz.
The kyng highed, and his sergeauntz :
Ac, so I fynde on the booke,
By Porus conseil hogges hy took
And beten them so they shrightte :
The olifauntz away hem dightte ;
For hy ne have so mychel drade
Of nothing as of hogges grade.”
Weber, vol. i. p. 237.Dislike to the Horse.
*3
horse has an antipathy to the camel, and evinces extreme
impatience, both of the sight and the smell of that ani-
mal.1 When enraged, an elephant will not hesitate to
charge a rider on horseback; but it is against the man,
not against the horse, that his fury is directed; and no
instance has been ever known of his wantonly assailing a
horse. A horse belonging to the late Major Rogers2 had
run away from his groom, and was found some consider-
able time afterwards grazing quietly with a herd of ele-
phants. In De Bry’s splendid collection of travels, how-
ever, there is included The voyage of a certain English-
man to Cambay; in which the author asserts that at Agra,
in the year 1607, he was present at a spectacle given by
the viceregent of the great Mogul, in the course of which
he saw an elephant destroy two horses, by seizing them in
its trunk, and crushing them with his tusks and feet.3
But this display was avowedly an artificial one, and the
creature must have been cruelly trained and tutored for
the occasion.
1	This peculiarity was noticed by the
ancients, and is recorded by Herodotus:
Kafirikov t7T7ros <£o/3e'erai, ical ovk av-
exeTai ovre ttjv iSerfV avrrjs opiutv ovre
TTjv oSfXTfv ovfjypoLivofjiGvos. (Herod, ch.
80.) Camels have long been bred by
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at his
establishment near Pisa, and even there
the same instinctive dislike to them is
manifested by the horse, which it is
necessary to train and accustom to their
presence in order to avoid accidents.
Mr. Broderip mentions, that, “ when
the precaution of such training has not
been adopted, the sudden and dan-
gerous terror with which a horse is
seized in coming unexpectedly upon
one of them is excessive.”—Note-book
of a Naturalist, ch. iv. p. 113.
2	Major Rogers was many years the
chief civil officer of the Ceylon Govern-
ment in the district of Ouvah, where he
was killed by lightning, 1845.
3	“ Quidam etiam cum equis silves-
tribus pugnant. Saepe unus elephas
cum sex equis committitur; atque ipse
adeo interim cum unus elephas duos
equos cum primo impetu protinus pro-
sternerit;—injecta enim jugulis ipsorum
longa proboscide, ad se protractos, den-
tibus porro comminuit ac protrivit.”
(.Angli cujusdam in Cambayamnavi-
gatio. De Bry, Coll. etc. vol. iii.
ch. xvi. p. 31.)14	The Wild Elephant.
Pigs are constantly to be seen feeding about the
stables of tame elephants, which manifest no repugnance
to them. As to smaller animals, the elephant undoubt-
edly evinces uneasiness at the presence of a dog, but
this is referable to the same cause as its impatience of a
horse, namely, that neither is habitually seen by it in the
forest; and it would be idle to suppose that this feeling
could amount to hostility against a creature incapable of
inflicting on it the slightest injury.1 The truth I appre-
hend to be that, when they meet, the impudence and
impertinences of the dog are offensive to the gravity of
the elephant, and incompatible with his love of solitude
and noiseless repose. Or, as regards the horse and the
dog, may it be assumed as an evidence of the sagacity
of the elephant, that the only two animals to which it
manifests an antipathy, are the two which it has seen
only in the company of its greatest enemy, man ? One
instance has certainly been attested to me by an eye-
witness, in which the trunk of an elephant was seized in
the teeth of a Scotch terrier, and such was the alarm of
the huge creature that it came at once to its knees. The
dog repeated the attack, and on every renewal of it the
elephant retreated in terror, holding its trunk above its
head, and kicking at the terrier with its fore feet. It
would have turned to flight but for the interference of its
keeper.
'To account for the impatience ful. A tame elephant has been observed
manifested by the elephant at the pre- to regard with indifference a spear
sence of a dog, it has been suggested directed towards his head, but to shrink
that he is alarmed lest the latter should timidly from the same weapon when
attack his feet, a portion of his body of pointed at his feet,
which the elephant is peculiarly care-Dislike of Dogs.	15
Major Skinner, formerly commissioner of roads in
Ceylon, whose official duties in constructing highways
involved the necessity of his being in the jungle for
months together, always found that, by night or by day,
the barking of a dog which accompanied him was suffi-
cient to put a herd of wild elephants to flight. On the
whole, therefore, I am of opinion that in a state of
nature the elephant lives on terms of amity with every
animal in the forest, that it neither regards them as
its foes, nor provokes their hostility by its acts; and
that, with the exception of man, its greatest enemy
is a fly !
These current statements as to the supposed animosity
of the elephant to minor animals originated with ^Elian
and Pliny, who had probably an opportunity of seeing,
what may at any time be observed, that when a captive
elephant is picketed beside a post, the domestic animals,
goats, sheep, and cattle, will annoy and irritate it by
their audacity in making free with its provender; but
this is an evidence in itself of the little instinctive dread
which such comparatively puny creatures entertain of
one so powerful and yet so gentle.
Amongst elephants themselves, jealousy and other
causes of irritation frequently occasion contentions be-
tween individuals of the same herd; but on such occa-
sions their general habit is to strike with their trunks,
and to bear down their opponents with their heads. It
is doubtless correct that an elephant, when prostrated by
the force and fury of an antagonist of its own species, is
often wounded by the downward pressure of the tusks,16	The Wild Elephant.
which in any other position it would be almost impos-
sible to use offensively.1
Mr. Mercer, who in 1846 was the principal civil officer
of Government at Badulla, sent me a jagged fragment
of an elephant’s tusk, about five inches in diameter, and
weighing between twenty and thirty pounds, which had
been brought to him by some natives, who, being at-
tracted by a noise in the jungle, witnessed a combat
between a tusker and one without tusks, and saw the
latter with his trunk seize one of the tusks of his anta-
gonist and wrench from it the portion in question, which
measured two feet in length.
Here the trunk was shown to be the more powerful
offensive weapon of the two ; but I apprehend that the
chief reliance of the elephant for defence is on its pon-
derous weight, the pressure of its foot being sufficient
to crush any minor assailant after being prostrated by
means of its trunk. Besides, in using its feet for this
purpose, it derives a wonderful facility from the peculiar
formation of the knee-joint in the hind leg, which, en-
abling it to swing the hind feet forward close to the
ground, assists it to toss the body alternately from foot
to foot, till deprived of life.2
1 A writer in the Indian Sporting the persecution of the Jews by Pto-
Review for October 1857 says a male lemy Philopater, b.c. 210, states that
elephant was killed by two others close the king swore vehemently that he
to his camp: “ the head was completely would send them into the other world,
smashed in; there was a large hole in “foully trampled to death by the
the side, and the abdomen was ripped knees and feet of elephants ” (irefnif/eiv
open. The latter wound was given eis a&T\v ev yovatri teal no<ri flrjpiW
probably after it had fallen.”	(P. 175.) pettr/uieVov?. 3 Mac. v. 42). ASlian
* In the Third Book of Maccabees, makes the remark, that elephants on
which is not printed in our Apocrypha, such occasions use their knees as well
but appears in the series in the Greek as their feet to crush their victim.
Septuagint, the author, in describing {Hist. Anim. viii. 10.)i7
Uses of the Tusks.
A sportsman who had partially undergone this opera-
tion, having been seized by a wounded elephant but
escaped from its fury, described to me his sufferings as
he was thus flung back and forward between the hind
and fore feet of the animal, which ineffectually attempted
to trample him at each concussion, and abandoned him
without inflicting serious injury.
Knox, in describing the execution of criminals by the
state elephants of the former kings of Kandy, says,
“ they will run their teeth (tusks) through the body, and
then tear it in pieces and throw it limb from limb; ” but
a Kandyan chief, who was witness to these scenes, as-
sured me that the elephant never once applied its tusks,
but, placing its foot on the prostrate victim, plucked off
his limbs in succession by a sudden movement of the
trunk. If the tusks were designed to be employed of-
fensively, some alertness would naturally be exhibited in
using them ; but in numerous instances where sportsmen
have fallen into the power of a wounded elephant, they
have escaped through the failure of the enraged animal
to strike them with its tusks, even when stretched upon
the ground.1
But here there arises a further and a very curious
enquiry, as to the specific objects in the economy of the
elephant, to which its tusks are conducive. Placed as
it is in Ceylon, in the midst of the most luxuriant pro-
fusion of its favourite food, in close proximity at all
times to abundant supplies of water, and with no natural
enemies against whom to protect itself, it is difficult to
1 The Hastisilpe, a Singhalese work which it is not desirable to possess,
which treats of the “Science of Ele- “the elephant which will fight with a
phants,” enumerates amongst those stone or a stick in his trunk.”
C18	The Wild Elephant
conjecture any probable utility which it can derive from
such appendages. Their absence is unaccompanied by
any inconvenience to the individuals in whom they are
wanting; and as regards the few who possess them, the
only operations in which I am aware of their tusks being
employed in relation to the habits of the animal, is to
assist in ripping open the stem of the jaggery palms and
young palmyras to extract the farinaceous core ; and in
splitting up the juicy shaft of the plantain. Whilst the
tuskless elephant crushes the latter under foot, thereby
soiling it and wasting its moisture; the other, by opening
it with the point of its tusk, performs the operation with
delicacy and apparent ease.
These, however, are trivial and almost accidental ad-
vantages : on the other hand, owing to irregularities in
their growth, the tusks are sometimes an impediment to
the animal in feeding;1 and in more than one instance
in the Government studs, tusks which had so grown as
to approach and cross one another at the extremities,
have had to be relieved by the saw; the contraction of
space between them so impeding the free action of the
trunk as to prevent the animal from conveying branches
to its mouth.2
It is true that in captivity, and after a due course of
1 Among other eccentric forms, an
elephant was seen in 1844, in the
district of Bintenne, near Friar’s-Hood
Mountain, one of whose tusks was so
bent that it took what sailors term a
“round turn,” and then resumed its
curved direction as before. In the
Museum of the College of Surgeons,
London, there is a specimen, No 2757,
of a spiral tusk.
2 Since the foregoing remarks were
written relative to the undefined use of
tusks to the elephant, I have seen a
speculation on the same subject in
Dr. Holland’s “ Constitution of the
Animal Creation, as expressed in
structural appendages ; ” but the con-
jecture of the author leaves the prob-
lem scarcely less obscure than before.
Struck with the mere supplementalAnecdote of Sagacity.	19
training, the elephant discovers a new use for its tusks
when employed in moving stones and piling timber; so
much so that a powerful one will raise and carry on them
a log of half a ton weight or more. One evening, whilst
riding in the vicinity of Kandy, towards the scene of
the massacre of Major Davie’s party in 1803, my horse
evinced some excitement at a noise which approached
us in the thick jungle, and which consisted of a repeti-
tion of the ejaculation urmph ! urmph ! in a hoarse and
dissatisfied tone. A turn in the forest explained the
mystery, by bringing me face to face with a tame ele-
phant, unaccompanied by any attendant. He was la-
bouring painfully to carry a heavy beam of timber, which
he balanced across his tusks, but the pathway being
narrow, he was forced to bend his head to one side to
permit the load to pass endways; and the exertion and
this inconvenience combined led him to utter the dis-
satisfied sounds which disturbed the composure of my
horse. On seeing us halt, the elephant raised his head,
reconnoitred us for a moment, then flung down the
timber, and voluntarily forced himself backwards among
the brushwood so as to leave a passage, of which he ex-
pected us to avail ourselves. My horse hesitated : the
elephant observed it, and impatiently thrust himself still
presence of the tusks, the absence of
all apparent use serving to distinguish
them from the essential organs of the
creature, Dr. Holland concludes that
their production is a process incident,
but not ancillary, to other important
ends, especially connected with the
vital functions of the trunk and the
marvellous motive powers inherent to
it; his conjecture is, that they are
“ a species of safety valve of the animal
oeconomy,”—and that “ they owe their
development to the predominance of the
senses of touch and smell, conjointly
with the muscular motions of which
the exercise of these is accompanied.”
“Had there been no proboscis,” he
thinks, “ there would have been no sup-
plementary appendages,—the former
creates the latter.” (Pp. 246, 271.)20
The Wild Elephant.
deeper into the jungle, repeating his cry of urmph / but
in a voice evidently meant to encourage us to advance.
Still the horse trembled; and anxious to observe the
instinct of the two sagacious animals, I laid the rein upon
its neck and forbore any interference: again the ele-
phant of his own accord wedged himself further in
amongst the trees, and manifested some impatience that
we did not pass him. At length the horse moved for-
ward ; and when we were fairly past the elephant I looked
back and saw the wise creature stoop and take up its
unwieldy burthen, trim and balance it on its tusks, and
resume its route as before, hoarsely snorting its discon-
tented remonstrance.
Between the African elephant and that of Ceylon,
with the exception of the striking peculiarity of the
infrequency of tusks in the latter, the distinctions are
less apparent to a casual observer than to a scientific
naturalist. In the Ceylon species the forehead is higher
and more hollow, the ears are smaller, and, in a section
of the teeth, the grinding ridges, instead of being
lozenge-shaped, are transverse bars of uniform breadth.
The Indian elephant is stated by Cuvier to have four
nails on the hind foot, the African variety having only
three; but amongst the perfections of a high-bred ele-
phant of Ceylon, is always enumerated the possession
of twenty nails, whilst those of a secondary class have
but eighteen in all.1
1 See Notes on the Natural History of its “back is concave while that of the
Ceylon by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, Indian variety is convex.” (The
p. 60. Sir S. Baker adds as a distinc- Albert Nyanza, vol. i. p. 274.)
tive feature of the African elephant that21
Marks of a high-caste Elephant
So conversant are the natives with the structure and
“ points ” of the elephant, that they divide them readily
into castes, and describe with particularity their dis-
tinctive excellences and defects. In the Hastisilpe, a
Singhalese work which treats of their natural manage-
ment, the marks of inferior breeding are said to be “ eyes
restless like those of a crow, the hair of the head of
mixed shades; the face wrinkled ; the tongue curved and
black; the nails short and green; the ears small; the
neck thin, the skin freckled; the tail without a tuft, and
the fore-quarter lean and low; ” whilst the perfection of
form and beauty is supposed to consist in the “ softness
of the skin, the red colour of the mouth and tongue, the
forehead expanded and hollow, the ears broad and rect-
angular, the trunk broad at the root and blotched with
pink in front; the eyes bright and kindly, the cheeks
large, the neck full, the back level, the chest square, the
fore legs short and convex in front, the hind quarter
plump, and five nails on each foot, all smooth, polished,
and round.1 An elephant with these perfections,” says
the author of the Hastisilpe, “will impart glory and
magnificence to the king; but he cannot be discovered
amongst thousands, yea, there shall never be found an
elephant clothed at once with all the excellences herein
described.” The “points” of an elephant are to be
studied with the greatest advantage in those attached to
the temples, which are always of the highest caste, and
exhibit the most perfect breeding.
1 A native of rank informed me, that sometimes touch the ground, but such
the tail of a high-caste elephant will are very rare.”22
The Wild Elephant.
The colour of the animal's skin in a state of nature is
generally of a lighter brown than that of those in cap-
tivity ; a distinction which arises, in all probability, not
so much from the wild animal’s propensity to cover itself
with mud and dust, as from the superior care which is
taken in repeatedly bathing the tame ones, and in rub-
bing their skins with a soft stone, a lump of burnt clay,
or the rough husk of a coco-nut. This kind of disci-
pline, together with the occasional application of oil,
gives rise to the deeper black which the hides of the
latter present.
Amongst the Singhalese, however, a singular prefer-
ence is evinced for elephants that exhibit those flesh-
coloured blotches which occasionally mottle the skin
of an elephant, chiefly about the head and extremities.
The front of the trunk, the tips of the ears, the forehead,
and occasionally the legs, are thus diversified with stains
of a yellowish tint, inclining to pink. These are not
natural; nor are they hereditary, for they are seldom
exhibited by the younger individuals in a herd, but ap-
pear to be the result of some eruptive affection, the irri-
tation of which has induced the animal in its uneasiness
to rub itself against the rough bark of trees, and thus to
abrade the outer cuticle.1
To a European these spots appear blemishes, and the
taste that leads the natives to admire them is probably
akin to the feeling that has at all times rendered a white
1 This is confirmed by the fact that have been captured by noosing, pre-
the scar of the ancle wound, occasioned sents precisely the same tint when
by the rope on the legs of those which thoroughly healed.A White Elephant.	23
elephant an object of wonder to Asiatics. The rarity of
the latter is accounted for by regarding this peculiar
appearance as the result of albinism; and notwithstand-
ing the exaggeration of Oriental historians, who compare
the fairness of such creatures to the whiteness of snow,
even in its utmost perfection, I apprehend that the tint
of a white elephant is little else than a flesh-colour,
rendered somewhat more conspicuous by the blanching
of the skin, and the lightness of the colourless hairs with
which it is sparsely covered. A white elephant is men-
tioned in the Mahawanso as forming part of the retinue
attached to the “ Temple of the Tooth” at Anarajapoora,
in the fifth century after Christ;1 but it commanded no
religious veneration, and like those in the stud of the
kings of Siam, it was tended merely as an emblem of
royalty;2 the sovereign of Ceylon being addressed as
the “ Lord of Elephants.” 3 At the same time it admits
of no doubt that in the early ages, white animals were in
some parts of the East the objects of devout adoration.
Herodotus alludes to the sacred white horses, iepwv
i7rir(ov tu>v Xevicun', which accompanied the army of Cyrus
to the siege of Babylon;4 he equally records that
amongst the Egyptians purely white oxen were sacred to
Epaphus; but one single dark hair was enough to exclude
them as unclean.5
In 1633 a white elephant was exhibited in Holland; 6
1 Mahawanso, ch. xxxviii. p. 254, middle ages, bore the style of Gaja-
a.d. 433.	pati, ‘‘powerful in elephants.” (.Asiat.
3 Pallegoix, Siam, etc. vol. i. p. Res. xv. 253.)
152.	* Herod. 1. i. c. 189.
• 3 Mahawanso, ch. xviii. p. in. The 5 Ibid. 1. ii. c. 38.
Hindu sovereigns of Orissa, in the 8 Armandi, Hist. Milit. des Ele-24
The Wild Elephant.
but as this was some years before the Dutch had estab-
lished themselves firmly in Ceylon, it was probably
brought from some other of their eastern possessions.
phants, lib. ii. c. x. p. 380. Horace phas albus vulgi converteret ora.”
mentions a white elephant as having (Hor. Ep. 11. 196.)
been exhibited at Rome: “ Sive ele-25
CHAPTER II.
HABITS WHEN WILD.
Although found generally in warm and sunny climates,
it is a mistake to suppose that the elephant is partial
either to heat or to light. In Ceylon, the mountain
tops, and not the sultry valleys, are its favourite resort.
In Ouvah, where the elevated plains are often crisp with
the morning frost, and on Pedura-talla-galla, at the
height of upwards of eight thousand feet, they may be
found in herds at times when the hunter will search for
them without success in the hot jungles of the low
country. No altitude, in fact, seems too lofty or too
chill for the elephant, provided it alfords the luxury of
water in abundance; and, contrary to the general opinion
that the elephant delights in sunshine, it seems at all
times impatient of glare, and spends the day in the
thickest depth of the forests, devoting the night to excur-
sions, and to the luxury of the bath, in which it also
indulges occasionally by day. This partiality for shade is
doubtless ascribable to the animal’s love of coolness and
solitude; but it is not altogether unconnected with the
position of the eye, and the circumscribed use which its
peculiar mode of life permits it to make of the faculty
of sight.26
The Wild Elephant.
All the elephant hunters and natives with whom I have
spoken on the subject, concur in opinion that its range
of vision is circumscribed, and that it relies more on the
ear and the sense of smell than on its sight, which is
liable to be obstructed by dense foliage ; besides which,
from the formation of its short neck, the elephant is in-
capable of directing the range of the eye much above the
level of the head.1
This small sphere of vision is sufficient to account for
the excessive caution of the elephant, its alarm at unusual
1 After writing the above, I was per-
mitted by the late Dr. Harrison, of
Dublin, to see some accurate drawings
of the brain of an elephant, which he
had the opportunity of dissecting in
1847 ; and on looking to that of the base,
I have found a remarkable verification
of the information which I had pre-
viously collected in Ceylon.
The small figure A is the ganglion of
the fifth nerve, showing the small motor
and large sensitive portion.
Olfactory lobes—large.
Optic nerve—small.
Third pair—small.
Fourth pair—small.
The two portions of fifth pair: sensi -
tive portionvery large, for proboscis.
Sixth pair—small.	'
Seventh pair—portio dura, or motor,
very large for proboscis.
The olfactory lobes, from which the	fifth nerve, which supplies the proboscis
olfactory nerves proceed, are large,	with its exquisite sensibility, as well as
whilst the optic and muscular nerves	by the great size of the motor portion
of the orbit are singularly small for so	of the seventh, which supplies the same
vast an animal; and one is immediately	organ with its power of movement and
struck by the prodigious size of the	action.Smell,
27
noises, and the timidity and panic exhibited at trivial
objects and incidents which, imperfectly discerned, excite
suspicions for its safety.1 In 1841 an officer 2 was chased
by an elephant that he had slightly wounded. Seizing
him near the dry bed of a river, the animal had its fore-
foot already raised to crush him; but its forehead being
touched at the same instant by the tendrils of a climbing
plant which had suspended itself from the branches
above, it suddenly turned and fled ; leaving him badly
hurt, but with no limb broken. I have heard similar in-
stances, equally well attested, of this peculiarity in the
character of the elephant.
On the other hand, the power of smell is so remark-
able as almost to compensate for the deficiency of sight.
A herd is not only apprised of the approach of danger
by this means, but when scattered in the forest, and dis-
persed out of range of sight, they are enabled by it to
reassemble with rapidity and to adopt precautions for
their common safety. The same necessity is met by a
delicate sense of hearing, and the use of a variety of
noises or calls, by means of which elephants succeed in
communicating with each other upon all emergencies.
“ The sounds which they utter have been described by
the African hunters as of three kinds : the first, which is
very shrill, produced by blowing through the trunk, is
indicative of pleasure; the second, produced by the
mouth, is expressive of want; and the third, proceeding
1 Menageries, etc.	The Elephant,” this singular adventure will be found in
p. 27	the Ceylon Miscellany for 1842, vol. i.
2	Major Rogers. An account of p. 221.28	The Wild Elephant
from the throat, is a terrific roar of anger or revenge.” 1
These words convey but an imperfect idea of the variety
of noises made by the elephant in Ceylon; and the
shrill cry produced by blowing through his trunk, so far
from being regarded as an indication of “ pleasure,” is
the well-known cry of rage with which he rushes to en-
counter an assailant. Aristotle describes it as resem-
bling the hoarse sound of a “ trumpet.” 2 The French
still designate the proboscis of an elephant by the same
expression “trompe” (which we have unmeaningly cor-
rupted into trunk), and hence the scream of the elephant
1	Menageries, etc. “ The Elephant,” lib. x. ch. cxiii. A manuscript of the
ch. iii. p. 68.	15th century in the British Museum,
2	Aristotle, De Anim. lib. iv. c. containing the romance of “ Alex-
9, bfjiolov <raAiriyyi. See also Pliny, under” which is probably of the fif-
teenth century, is interspersed with literally in the form of trumpets with
drawings illustrative of the strange expanded mouths. See Wright’s Ar-
animals of the East. Amongst them chceological Album, p. 176, and M.S.
are two elephants, whose trunks are Reg. 15, e. vi. Brit. Mus.Noises.
29
is known as “trumpeting” by the hunters in Ceylon.
Their cry when in pain, or when subjected to compulsion,
is a grunt or a deep groan from the throat, with the pro-
boscis curled upwards and the lips wide apart.
Should the attention of an individual in the herd be
attracted by any unusual appearance in the forest, the
intelligence is rapidly communicated by a low suppressed
sound made by the lips, somewhat resembling the twit-
tering of a bird, and described by the hunters by the
word “prut.”
A very remarkable noise has been described to me by
more than one individual, who had come unexpectedly
upon a herd during the night, when the alarm of the ele-
phants was apparently too great to be satisfied with the
stealthy note of warning just described. On these occa-
sions the sound produced resembled the hollow booming
of an empty tun when struck with a wooden mallet or a
muffled sledge. Major Macready, Military Secretary in
Ceylon in 1836, who heard it by night amongst the wild
elephants in the great forest of Bintenne, describes it as
“ a sort of banging noise like that of a cooper hammer-
ing a cask; ” and Ma:or Skinner is of opinion that it
must be produced by the elephant striking his ribs rapidly
and forcibly with his trunk. Mr. Cripps informs me that
he has more than once seen an elephant, when surprised
or alarmed, produce this sound by beating the ground
forcibly with the flat side of the trunk; and this move-
ment was instantly succeeded by raising it again, and
pointing it in the direction whence the alarm proceeded,
as if to ascertain by the sense of smell the nature of the30
The Wild Elephant
threatened danger. As this strange sound is generally
mingled with the bellowing and ordinary trumpeting of
the herd, it is in all probability a device resorted to, not
alone for warning their companions of some approaching
peril, but also for the additional purpose of terrifying
unseen intruders.1
Elephants are subject to deafness ; and the Singhalese
regard as the most formidable of all wild animals, a
“ rogue ” 2 afflicted with this infirmity.
Extravagant estimates are recorded of the height of
the elephant. In an age when popular fallacies in re-
lation to him were as yet uncorrected in Europe by the
actual inspection of the living animal, he was supposed
to grow to the height of twelve or fifteen feet. Even
within the last century, in popular works on natural his-
tory, the elephant, when full grown, was said to measure
from seventeen to twenty feet from the ground to the
shoulder.3 At a still later period, so imperfectly had
the truth been ascertained, that the elephant of Ceylon
was believed “to excel that of Africa in size and
strength.”4 But so far from equalling the size of the
1	Pallegoix, in his Description du
Royaume Thai ou Siam, adverts to a
sound produced by the elephant when
weary: “ quand il est fatigue, ilfrappe
la terre avec sa trompe, et en tire un
son semblable k celui du cor.” (Tom. i.
P- IS1-)
2	For an explanation of the term
“rogue ” as applied to an elephant, see
p. 47.
3	Natural History of Animals. By
Sir John Hill, M.D. London, 1748 52,
p. 565. A probable source of these
false estimates is mentioned by a writer
in the Indian Sporting Review for
Oct. 1857. “ Elephants were measured
formerly, and even now, by natives, as
to their height, by throwing a rope over
them, the ends brought to the ground
on each side, and half the length taken
as the true height. Hence the origin
of elephants fifteen and sixteen feet
high. A rod held at right angles to
the measuring rod, and parallel to the
ground, will rarely give more than ten
feet, the majority being under nine.”
(P- 159-)
4	Shaw’s Zoology. Lond. 1806. vol.
i. p. 216; Armandi, Hist. Milit. des
Eliphants, liv. i. ch. i. p. 2.3i
Height.
African species, that of Ceylon seldom exceeds the height
of nine feet; even in the Hambangtotte country, where
the hunters agree that the largest specimens are to be
found, the tallest in ordinary herds do not average
more than eight feet. Wolf, in his account of the
Ceylon elephant,1 says he saw one taken near Jaffna,
which measured twelve feet and one inch high. But the
truth is, that the general bulk of the elephant so far
exceeds that of the animals we are accustomed to see
daily, that the imagination magnifies its unusual dimen-
sions ; and I have seldom or ever met with an inex-
perienced spectator who did not unconsciously over-
estimate the size of an elephant shown to him, whether
in captivity or in a state of nature. Major Denham
would have guessed some which he saw in Africa to be
sixteen feet in height, but the largest when killed was
found to measure nine feet six, from the foot to the hip-
bone.2
For a creature of such extraordinary weight it is
astonishing how noiselessly and stealthily the elephant
1 Wolf’s Life and adventures, etc.
p. 164. Wolf was a native of Mecklen-
burg, who arrived in Ceylon about 1750,
as chaplain in one of the Dutch East
Indiamen, and having been taken into
the Government employment, he served
for twenty years at Jaffna, first as
Secretary to the Governor, and after-
wards in an office the duties of which
he describes to be the examination and
signature of the “ writings which served
to commence a suit in any of the courts
of justice.” His book embodies a
truthful and generally accurate account
of the northern portion of the island,
with which alone he was conversant, and
his narrative gives a curious insight into
the policy of the Dutch Government,
and of the condition of the natives
under their dominion.
3 Denham’s Travels, etc. 4to, p. 220.
Fossil remains of the Indian elephant
have been discovered at Jabalpur,
showing a height of fifteen feet. (Joum.
Asiat. Soc. Beng. vi.) Professor
Ansted in his Ancient World, p. 197,
says he was informed by Dr. Falconer
“ that out of eleven hundred elephants
from which the tallest were selected
and measured with care, on one occasion
in India, there was not one whose height
equalled eleven feet.”32
The Wild Elephant.
can escape from a pursuer. When suddenly disturbed
in the jungle, it will burst away with a rush that seems
to bear down all before it; but the noise sinks into
absolute stillness so suddenly, that a novice might well
be led to suppose that the fugitive had only halted within
a few yards of him, when further search will disclose
that it has stolen silently away, making scarcely a sound
in its escape ; and, stranger still, leaving the foliage
almost undisturbed by its passage.
The most venerable delusion respecting the elephant,
and that which held its ground with unequalled tenacity,
is the ancient fallacy thus set out by Sir Thomas Browne
in his Pseudodoxia Epidemica. “ The elephant, it is said,
hath no joynts; and this absurdity is seconded by
another, that being unable to lye downe it sleepeth
against a tree, which the hunters observing doe saw
almost asunder, whereon the beast relying, by the fall of
the tree falls also downe it-selfe and is able to rise no
more.”1 Sir Thomas is disposed to think that “ the hint
and ground of this opinion might be the grosse and
somewhat cylindricall composure of the legs of the ele-
phant, and the equality and lesse perceptible disposure of
the joynts, especially in the forelegs of this animal, they
appearing, when he standeth, like pillars of flesh ; ” but he
overlooks the fact that Pliny has ascribed the same pe-
culiarity to the Scandinavian beast somewhat resembling
1 Vulgar Errors, book iii. chap. i. century, quotes Cassiodorus and accepts
The earliest English writer who pro- his assertion that the elephant has no
mulgated this error was Alexander joints, chap, cxliii. Neckham repeats
Neckham, who in his treatise De the statement in his poem De Laudibus
Naturis Rerum, composed in the 12th Divince Sapientice, v. 47.The " Machlis!'
33
a horse, which he calls a “ machlis,,, 1 and that Caesar
in describing the wild animals in the Hercynian forests,
enumerates the alee (elk?), “in colour and configura-
tion approaching the goat, but surpassing it in size, its
head destitute of horns and Us limbs of joints, whence
it can neither lie down to rest, nor rise if by any acci-
dent it should fall, but using the trees for a resting-place,
the hunters by loosening their roots bring the alee to the
ground, so soon as it is tempted to lean on them.”2
This fallacy, as Sir Thomas Browne 3 says, is “not the
daughter of latter times, but an old and grey-headed
errour, even in the days of Aristotle,” who deals with
the story as he received it from Ctesias, by whom it
1 1 Machlis (said to be derived from a,
priv., and /cAiVw, cubo, quod non cubat).
“ Moreover in the island of Scandinavia
there is a beast called Machlis, that
hath neither ioynt in the hough, nor
pastemes in his hind legs, and there-
fore he never lieth down, but sleepeth
leaning to a tree, wherefore the hunters
that lie in wait for these beasts cut
downe the trees while they are asleepe,
and so take them; otherwise they
should never be taken, they are so
swift of foot that it is wonderful.”
(Pliny, Natur. Hist. Transl. Philemon
Holland, book viii. ch. xv. p. 200.)
a “ Sunt item quae appellantur A Ices.
Harum est consimilis capreis figura, et
varietas pellium; sed magnitudine paulo
antecedunt, mutilaeque sunt cornibus, et
crura sine nodis articulisque habetit;
neque quietis causa procumbunt; neque,
si quo afflictae casu considerunt, eri-
gere sese aut sublevare possunt. His
sunt arbores pro cubilibus ; ad eas sese
applicant, atque ita, paulum modo
reclinatae, quietem capiunt, quarum
ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a
venatoribus, quo se recipere consueve-
rint, omnes eo loco, aut a radicibus
subruunt aut accidunt arbores tantum,
ut summa species earum stantium re-
linquatur. Hue cum se consuetudine
reclinaverint, infirmas arbores pondere
affligunt, atque una ipsae concidunt.”
(Caesar, De Bello Gall. lib. vi. ch.
xxvii.)
The same fiction was extended b v
the early Arabian travellers to the
rhinoceros, and in the MS. of the
voyages of the “ Two Mahometans,”
it is stated that the rhinoceros of Su-
matra “n’a point d’articulation au
genou ni a la main.” (.Relations des
Voyages, etc. Paris, 1845, vol. i.
p. 29.)
3 Evelyn, who was a contemporary
and friend of Sir Thomas Browne,
observes in his diary, August 13, 1641,
on arriving at Rotterdam, “here I
first saw an elephant: it was a beast
of a monstrous size, yet as flexible and
nimble in the joints, contrary to the
vulgar tradition, as could be imagined
from so prodigious a bulk and strange
fabric.” (Vol. i. p. 20.)34
The Wild Elephant.
appears to have been embodied in his lost work on India.
But although Aristotle generally receives the credit of
having exposed and demolished the fallacy of Ctesias,1 * it
will be seen by a reference to his treatise On the Progres-
sive Motions of Animals, that in reality he approached
the question with some hesitation, and has not only left
it doubtful in one passage whether the elephant has
joints in his knee, although he demonstrates that it has
joints in the shoulders;* but in another he distinctly
affirms that on account of his weight the elephant cannot
bend his forelegs together, but only one at a time, and
reclines to sleep on that particular side.3
So great was the authority of Aristotle, that ^Elian,
who wrote two centuries later and borrowed many of his
statements from the works of his predecessor, perpetuates
this error; and, after describing the exploits of the
trained elephants exhibited at Rome, adds the expres-
sion of his surprise, that an animal without joints (avap-
1 In his NaUiral History, Aris-
totle speaks of Ctesias as ovk tov
a£i67ritTTOS. (L. viii. c. 27.)
3 “When an animal moves progres-
sively an hypothenuse is produced,
which is equal in power to the magni-
tude that is quiescent, and to that
which is intermediate. But since the
members are equal, it is necessary that
the member which is quiescent should
be inflected either in the knee or in the
incurvation, if the animal that walks
is without knees. It is possible, how-
ever, for the leg to be moved, when
not inflected, in the same manner as
infants creep; and there is an ancient
report of this kind about elephants,
which is not true, for such animals as
these, are moved in consequence of an
inflection taking place either in their
shoulders or hips.” (Aristotle, De
Ingressu Andm. ch. ix. Taylor’s
Transl.)
* Aristotle, De Animal, lib. ii.
ch. i. It is curious that Taylor, in his
translation of this passage, was so
strongly imbued with the “grey-headed
errour,” that in order to elucidate the
somewhat obscure meaning of Aristotle,
he has actually interpolated the text
with the exploded fallacy of Ctesias,
and after the word reclining to sleep, has
inserted the words “ leaning against
some wall or tree,” which are not to be
found in the original.A ncient Fallacy.	3 5
Opov) should yet be able to dance.1 The fiction was too
agreeable to be readily abandoned by the poets of the
Lower Empire and the Romancers of the middle ages ;
and Phile, a contemporary of Petrarch and Dante,
who in the early part of the fourteenth century addressed
his didactic poem on the elephant to the emperor Andro-
nicus II., untaught by the exposition of Aristotle, still
clung to the old delusion,
TL68es 8e TOVTta 6avp.a Kal craves repas,
Ot/5, ov Kadairep rak\a t<ov £a>au' yevrj,
Elu>de Ktvelv avapdptav Kkacrparuiv *
Kal yap crrt/3apot? crv^TeOevres ocrreois,
Kal rjj irkaSapq t<ov cr<$>vp!dv KaTaardtret,
Kal Tjj irpos apdpa rd>v cncekuiv viroKpi<Tet.>
Nuv el? tovovs ayovai, vvv els vtfrecreis,
Ta? iravToSairas e/c8pop.as tov 0r/piov.
* * * * *
Bpaxvrepovs ovras 8e i<av oittaBltov
’Avap.(f)ikeKi(OS oTSa tovs ep.itpoadlovs *
Tov'tocv ekefaas eyradeis iatrirep cttvAoi?
’OpdoaraSr)!/ a/cap-Tiros virvu>TTO)v p.evei.
v. 106, &c.
Solinus introduced the same fable into his Polyhistor;
and Dicuil, the Irish commentator of the ninth century,
who had an opportunity of seeing the elephant sent by
Haroun Alraschid as a present to Charlemagne2 in the
year 802, corrects the error, and attributes its perpetua-
tion to the circumstance that the joints in the elephant’s
leg are not very apparent, except when he lies down.3
1 ZoW 8e avapQpov trvvievaL /cat
pvOp.ov Kal p.ekovs, /cal fyvkdntLv
crx^/aa <f>v<xeu)S 8<*>pa raCra ap. a Kal 18lo-
Trfs Kad* eKaaiou eKnkrfKTiKrj. (A£li-
AN, De Nat. Anim. lib. ii. cap. xi.)
a Eginhard, Vita Karoli, c. xvi.
and Annales Francorum, a.d. 8io.
3 “ Sed idem Julius, unum de ele-
phantibus mentiens, falso loquitur;
dicens elephantem nunquam jacere;
dum ille sicut bos certissime jacet, ut
populi communiter regni Francorum
elephantem, in tempore Imperatoris
Karoli, viderunt. Sed, forsitan, ideo
hoc de elephante ficte aestimando scrip-
turn est, eo quod genua et suflfragines
sui nisi quando jacet, non palam ap-
parent.” (Dicuilus, De Mensura
Orbis Terrce, c. vii.)36	The Wild Elephant
It is a strong illustration of the vitality of error, that
the delusion thus exposed by Dicuil in the ninth century,
was revived by Matthew Paris in the thirteenth; and
stranger still, that Matthew not only saw but made a
drawing of the elephant presented to King Henry III.
by the King of France in 1255, in which he nevertheless
represents the legs as without joints.1
In the numerous mediaeval treatises on natural history,
known under the title of Bestiaries, this delusion re-
garding the elephant is often repeated ; and it is given
at length in a metrical version of the Physiologus of
Theoraldus, amongst the Arundel Manuscripts in the
British Museum.2
1	Cotton MSS. Nero. D. i. fol.
168, b.
2	Arundel MSS. No. 292, fol. 4,
&c. It has been printed in the Reli-
quice Antiques, vol. i. p. 208, by
Mr. Wright, to whom I am indebted
for the following rendering of the
passage referred to:—
in water ge sal stonden
in water to mid side
*5at wanne hire harde tide
'Sat ge ne falle niSer nogt
Sat it most in hire Sogt
for he ne haven no liS
Sat he mugen risen wiS, etc.
“ They will stand in the water,
in water up to the middle of the side,
that when it comes to them hard,
they may not fall down:
that is most in their thought,
for they have no joint
to enable them to rise again.
How he resteth him this animal,
when he walketh abroad,
hearken how it is here told.
For he is all unwieldy,
forsooth he seeks out a tree,
that is strong and steadfast,
and leans confidently against it,
when he is weary of walking.
The hunter has observed this,
who seeks to ensnare him,
where his usual dwelling is,
to do his will;
saws this tree and props it
in the manner that he best may,
covers it well that he (the elephant)
may not be on his guard.
Then he makes thereby a seat,
himself sits alone and watches
whether his trap takes effect.
Then cometh this unwieldy elephant,
and leans him on his side,
rests against the tree in the shadow,
and so both fall together,
if nobody be by when he falls,
he roars ruefully and calls for help,
roars ruefully in his manner,
hopes he shall through help rise.
Then cometh there one (elephant) in
haste,
hopes he shall cause him to stand up;
labours and tries all his might,
but he cannot succeed a bit.
He knows then no other remedy,37
Fallacy as to Joints.
With the Provencal song writers, the helplessness of
the fallen elephant was a favourite simile, and amongst
others Richard de Barbezieux, in the latter half of the
twelfth century, sung,1
“ Atressi cum l’olifans
Que quan chai no s’ pot levar.”
As elephants were but rarely seen in Europe prior to
the seventeenth century, there were but few opportunities
of correcting the popular fallacy by ocular demonstration.
Hence Shakspeare still believed that,
“ The elephant hath joints; but none for courtesy ;
His legs are for necessity, not flexure : ” 2
and Donne sang of
“ Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant;
The only harmless great thing:
but roars with his brother,
many and large (elephants) come there
in search,
thinking to make him get up,
but for the help of them all
he may not get up.
Then they all roar one roar,
like the blast of a horn or the sound of
bell;
for their great roaring
a young one cometh running,
stoops immediately to him,
puts his snout under him,
and asks the help of them all;
this elephant they raise on his legs :
and thus fails this hunter’s trick,
in the manner that I have told you.”
1 One of the most venerable authori-
ties by whom the fallacy was trans-
mitted to modern times was Philip de
Thaun, who wrote, about the year
ii2i, A.D. his Livre des Creatures,
dedicated to Adelaide of Louvaine,
Queen of Henry I. of England. In
the copy of it printed by the Historica*
Society of Science in 1841, and edited
by Mr. Wright, the following passage
occurs:—
“ Et Ysidres nus dit ki le elefant descrit,
* * *
Es jambes par nature nen ad que une
jointure,
II ne pot pas gesir quant il se vol
dormir,
Ke si cuchet estait par sei nen leverait;
Pur §eo li stot apuier, el lui del cucher,
U a arbre u a mur, idunc dort aseur.
E le gent de la terre, ki li volent con
quere,
Li mur enfunderunt, u le arbre encise-
runt;
Quant li elefant vendrat, ki s’i apuierat,
La arbre u le mur carrat, e il tribu-
cherat;
Issi faiterement le pament cele gent.”
P. 100.
2 Troilus and Cressida, act ii. sc. 3.
a.d. 1609.38
The Wild Elephant.
Yet Nature hath given him no knee to bend:
Himself he up-props, on himself relies;
Still sleeping stands.” 1
Sir Thomas Browne, while he argues against the
delusion, does not fail to record his suspicion, that
“although the opinion at present be reasonably well
suppressed, yet from the strings of tradition and fruitful
recurrence of errour, it was not improbable it might
revive in the next generation2 3—an anticipation which
has proved singularly correct; for the heralds still con-
tinued to explain that the elephant is the emblem of
watchfulness, unec jacet in somno”2, and poets almost of
our own times paint the scene when
“ Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that cast
Their ample shade on Niger’s yellow stream,
Or where the Ganges rolls his sacred waves,
Leans the huge elephant.” 4
It is not difficult to discern whence this antiquated
delusion took its origin; nor is it, as Sir Thomas Browne
imagined, to be traced exclusively “to the grosse and
cylindricall structure ” of the animal’s legs. The fact is,
that the elephant, returning in the early morning from
his nocturnal revels in the reservoirs and watercourses,
is accustomed to rub his muddy sides against a tree, and
sometimes against a rock if more convenient. Often in
my rides at sunrise through the northern forests, the
1	Progress of the Soul, A.d. 1633.
2	Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors,
a.d. 1646.
3	Randal Home’s Academy of Ar-
mory, a.d. 1671. Home only per-
petuated the error of Guillim, who
wrote his Display of Heraldry in a. d.
1610; wherein he explains that the
elephant is “so proud of his strength
that he never bows himself to any
{neither indeed can he), and when he
is once down he cannot rise up again.”
(Sec. hi. ch. xii. p. 147.)
4	Thomson’s Seasons, a.d. 1728.Habit of leaning.	39
natives of Ceylon have pointed out that the ele-
phants which had preceded me must have been of con-
siderable size, judging from the height at which their
marks had been left on the trees against which they had
recently been rubbing. Not unfrequently the animals
themselves, overcome with drowsiness from the night’s
gambolling, are found dozing and resting against the
trees they had so visited, and in the same manner they
have been discovered by sportsmen asleep, and leaning
against a rock.
It is scarcely necessary to explain that the position
is accidental, and that it is taken by the elephant not
from any difficulty in lying at length on the ground, but
rather from the coincidence that the structure of his legs
affords such support in a standing position, that reclining
scarcely adds to his enjoyment of repose ; and elephants
in a state of captivity have been known for months
together to sleep without lying down.1 So distinctive is
this formation, and so self-sustaining the configuration of
the limbs, that an elephant shot in the brain, by Major
Rogers in 1836, was killed so instantaneously that it
died literally on its knees, and remained resting on them.
About the year 1826, Captain Dawson, the engineer of
the great road to Kandy, over the Kaduganava pass,
shot an elephant at Hangwelle on the banks of the
1 So little is the elephant inclined to
lie down in captivity, and even after
hard labour, that the keepers are gene-
rally disposed to suspect illness when
he betakes himself to this posture.
Phile, in his poem De Animalium
Proprietate, attributes the propensity
of the elephant to sleep on his legs, to
the difficulty he experiences in rising
to his feet:
'OpOoa-TdSrji' Se teal KaOevSei navvy xw
*Ot ovk dva<Trrj<rat fiev ev’xep^s ire'Aei.
But this is a misapprehension.40
The Wild Elephant.
Kalany Ganga ; it remained on its feet, but so motionless,
that after discharging a few more balls, he was induced
to go close to it, and found it dead.
The real peculiarity in the elephant in lying down is,
that he extends his hind legs backwards as a man does
when he kneels, instead of bringing them under him
like the horse or any other quadruped. The wise pur-
pose of this arrangement must be obvious to any one
who observes the struggle with which the horse gets up
from the ground, and the violent efforts which he makes
to raise himself erect. Such an exertion in the case of
the elephant, and the force requisite to apply a similar
movement to raise his weight (equal to four or five tons)
would be attended with a dangerous strain upon the
muscles, and hence the simple arrangement, which by
enabling him to draw the hind feet gradually under him,
assists him to rise without a perceptible effort
From the same causes I am disposed to think that the
elephant is too weighty and unwieldy to leap, at least to
any considerable height or distance ; and yet I have
seen in the Colombo Observer for March, 1866, an in-
teresting account of a corral, written by an able and
accurate describer, in which it is stated that an enfuriated
tusker, the property of the Government, made a rush to
escape from the enclosure, “ and fairly leaped the
barrier, of some fifteen feet high, only carrying away the
top cross beam with a great crash.”
The same construction renders his gait not a “ gallop,”
as it has been somewhat loosely described,1 which would
1 Menageries, etc. “ The Elephant,”
ch. i.
Sir Charles Bell, in his essay on
The Hand and its Mechanism, whichKnee-joint.
4i
be too violent a motion for so vast a body; but a shuffle,
that he can increase at pleasure to a pace as rapid as
that of a man at full speed, but which he cannot main-
tain for any considerable distance.
It is to the structure of the knee-joint that the elephant
is indebted for his singular facility in ascending and de-
scending steep acclivities, climbing rocks and traversing
precipitous ledges, where even a mule dare not venture ;
and this again leads to the correction of another gene-
rally received error, that his legs are “formed more for
forms one of the “ Bridgewater Trea-
tises,” has exhibited the reasons de-
ducible from organisation, which show
the incapacity of the elephant to spring
or leap like the horse and other animals
whose structure is designed to facilitate
agility and speed. In them the various
bones of the shoulder and fore limbs,
especially the clavicle and humerus, are
set at such an angle, that the shock in
descending is modified, and the joints
and sockets protected from the injury
occasioned by concussion. But in the points of contact. Thus whilst the
elephant, where the weight of the body force of the weight in descending is
is immense, the bones of the leg, in broken and distributed by this arrange-
order to present solidity and strength ment in the case of the horse; it would
to sustain it, are built in one firm and be so concentrated in the elephant as to
perpendicular column; instead of being endanger every joint from the toe to
placed somewhat obliquely at their the shoulder.42
The Wild Elephant
strength than flexibility, and fitted to bear an enormous
weight upon a level surface, without the necessity of
ascending or descending great acclivities.”1 The same
authority assumes that, although the elephant is found
in the neighbourhood of mountainous ranges, and will
even ascend rocky passes, such a service is a violation of
its natural habits.
Of the elephant of Africa I am not qualified to speak,
npr of the nature of the ground which it most frequents;
but certainly the facts in connection with the elephant
of India are all irreconcilable with the theory mentioned
above. In Bengal, in the Nilgherries, in; Nepal, in
Burmah, in Siam, Sumatra, and Ceylon, the districts in
which the elephants most abound, are all hilly and
mountainous. In the latter, especially, there is not a
range so elevated as to be inaccessible to them. On
the very summit of Adam’s Peak, at an altitude of 7,420
feet, and on a pinnacle which the pilgrims climb with
difficulty, by means of steps hewn in the rock, Major
Skinner, in 1840, found the spoor of an elephant.
Prior to 1840, and before coffe-plantations had been
extensively opened in the Kandyan ranges, there was
not a mountain or a lofty feature of land of Ceylon which
they had not traversed, in their periodical migrations in
search of water; and the sagacity which they display in
“ laying out roads ” is almost incredible. They generally
keep along the backbone of a chain of hills, avoiding
steep gradients: and one curious observation was not
lost upon the Government surveyors, that in crossing
1 Menageries^ etc. “The Elephant,” ch. ii.A Corral.
43
valleys from ridge to ridge, through forests so dense , as
to obstruct a distant view, the elephants invariably select
the line of march which communicates most judiciously
with the opposite point, by means of the safest ford.1
So sure-footed are they, that there are few places where
man can go that an elephant cannot follow, provided
there be space to admit his bulk, and solidity to sustain
his weight.
In 1865 a capture of. elephants was attempted at
Avisavelle in Ceylon : the corral was constructed close
to a wall of rocks so precipitous and high that it was
considered superfluous to continue, the enclosure in front
of them. But over these rocks the elephants made their
escape, and the corral was a total failure.2
This faculty is almost entirely derived from the un-
usual position, as compared with other quadrupeds, of
the knee joint of the hind leg; arising from the superior
length of the thigh-bone, and the shortness of the meta-
tarsus : the heel being almost where it projects in man,
instead of being lifted up as a “ hock.” It is this which
enables him, in descending declivities, to depress and
adjust the weight of his hinder portions, which would
otherwise overbalance and force him headlong.3 It is
1 Dr. Hooker, in describing the
ascent of , the Himalayas, says, the
natives in making their paths despise all
zigzags, and run in straight lines up the
steepest hill faces; whilst “the ele-
phant’s path is an excellent specimen of
engineering—the opposite of the native
track,—for it winds judiciously.” (Hi-
malayan Journal, vol. i. chi. iv.)
3 Ceylon Observer, March 1865.
3 Since the above passage was written,
I have seen in the Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal> yol. xiii.
pt. ii. p. 916, a paper upon this sub-
ject, illustrated by the subjoined dia-
gram.
The writer says, “ah elephant de-
scending a bank of too acute an angle to
admit of his walking down it direct,
(which, were he to attempt, his huge44
The Wild Elephant.
by the same arrangement that he is enabled, on uneven
ground, to lift his feet, which are tender and sensitive,
with delicacy, and plant them with such decision as to
body,, soon disarranging the centre of
gravity, would certainly topple over,)
proceeds thus. His first manoeuvre is
to kneel down close to the edge of the
declivity, placing his chest to the
ground: one fore leg is then cautiously
passed a short way down the slope; and
if there is no natural protection to afford
a firm footing, he speedily forms one
by stamping into the soil if moist, or
kicking out a footing if dry. This
point gained, the other fore leg is
brought down in the same way; and
perforins the same work, a little in
advance of the first; which is thus at
liberty to move lower still. Then, first
one and then the second of the hind
legs is carefully drawn over the side,
and the hind feet in turn occupy the
resting-places previously used and left
by the fore ones. The course, however,
in such precipitous ground is not straight
from top to bottom, but slopes along
the face of the bank, descending till the
animal gains the.level below. This an
elephant has done, at an angle of 45
degrees, carrying a Jurwdah> its occu-
pant, his attendant, and sporting ap-
paratus ; and in a much less time than
it takes to describe the operation.” I
have observed that an elephant in de-
scending a declivity uses his knees, on
the side next the bank; and his feet
on the lower side only.A Herd.
45
ensure his own safety as well as that of objects which it
is expedient to avoid touching.
A herd of elephants is a family, not a group whom
accident or attachment may have induced to associate
together. Similarity of features and caste attest that,
among the various individuals which compose it, there
is a common lineage and relationship. In a herd of
twenty-one elephants, captured in 1844, the trunks of
each individual presented the same peculiar formation,
—long, and almost of one uniform breadth throughout,
instead of tapering gradually from the root to the nostril.
In another instance, the eyes of thirty-five taken in one
corral were of the same colour in each. The same slope
of the back, the same form of the forehead, is to be de-
tected in the majority of the same group.
In the forest several herds sometimes browse in
close contiguity, and in their expeditions in search of
water they may form a body of possibly one or two
hundred ; but on the slightest disturbance each distinct
herd hastens to re-form within its own particular circle,
and to take measures on its own behalf for retreat or
defence.
The natives of any place which may chance to be fre-
quented by elephants, observe that the numbers of the
same herd fluctuate very slightly; and hunters in pur-
suit of them, who may chance to have shot one or more,
always reckon with certainty the precise number of
those remaining, although a considerable interval may
intervene before they again encounter them. The pro-
portion of males is generally small, and some herds have46
The Wild Elephant
been seen composed exclusively of females ; possibly in
consequence of the males having been shot. A herd
usually consists of from ten to twenty individuals, though
occasionally they exceed the latter number; and in
their frequent migrations and nightly resort to tanks
and water-courses, alliances are formed between mem-
bers of associated herds, which serve to introduce new
blood into the family.
In illustration of the attachment of the elephant to
its young, the authority of Knox has been quoted, that
“ the shees are alike tender of anyone’s young ones as
of their own.” 1 Their affection in this particular is
undoubted, but I question whether it exceeds that of
other animals; and the trait thus adduced of their
indiscriminate kindness to all the young of the herd,
—of which I have myself been an eye-witness,—so far
from being an evidence of the intensity of parental
attachment individually, is, perhaps, somewhat incon-
sistent with the existence of such a passion to any
extraordinary degree.2 In fact, some individuals, who
1 A correspondent of Buffon, M.
Marcellus Bles, Seigneur de Moer-
gestal, who resided eleven years in
Ceylon in the time of the Dutch, says
in one of his communications, that in
herds of forty or fifty, enclosed in a
single corral, there were frequently
very young calves ; and that “on ne
pouvoit pas reconnoitre quelles etoient
les meres de chacun de ces petits ele-
phans, car to us ces jeunes animaux
paroissent faire manse commune; ils
tetent indistinctement celles des fe-
melles de toute la troupe qui ont du
lait, soit qu’elles aient elles-memes un
petit en propre, soit qu’elles n’en aient
point.” (Buffon, Suppl. & l*Hist,
des A nim. vol. vi. p. 25.)
2 White, in his Natural History of
Selbourne, philosophising on the fact
which had fallen under his own notice
of this indiscriminate suckling of the
young of one animal by the parent of
another, is disposed to ascribe it to a
selfish feeling; the pleasure and relief *
of having its distended teats drawn by
this intervention. He notices the cir-
cumstance of a leveret having been thus
nursed by a cat, whose kittens had
been recently drowned; and observes
that ‘ ‘ this strange affection was pro-
bably occasioned by that desiderium,47
A Rogue.
have had extensive facilities for observation, doubt
whether the fondness of the female elephants for their
offspring is so great as that of many other animals; as
instances are not wanting in Ceylon, in which, when
pursued by the hunters, the herd has abandoned the
young ones in their flight, notwithstanding the cries of
the latter for protection.
In an interesting paper on the habits of the Indian
elephant, published in the Philosophical Transactions for
1793, Mr. Corse says: “If a wild elephant happens
to be separated from its young for only two days,
though giving suck, she never after recognises or acknow-
ledges it,” although the young one evidently knows its
dam, and by its plaintive cries and submissive approaches
solicits her assistance.
If by any accident an elephant becomes hopelessly
separated from his own herd, he is not permitted to
attach himself to any other. He may browse in their
vicinity, or resort to the same places to drink and to
bathe ; but the intercourse is only on a distant and con-
ventional footing, and no familiarity or intimate asso-
ciation is under any circumstances permitted. To such
those tender maternal feelings, which
the loss of her kittens had awakened
in her breast; and by the complacency
and ease she derived to herself from
procuring her teats to be drawn, which
were too much distended with milk;
till from habit she became as much de-
lighted with this foundling as if it had
been her real offspring. This incident
is no bad solution of that strange cir-
cumstance which grave historians, as
well as the poets, assert of exposed
children being sometimes nurtured by
female wild beasts that probably had
lost their young. For it is not one
whit more marvellous that Romulus
and Remus in their infant state should
be nursed by a she wolf than that a
poor little suckling leveret should be
fostered and cherished by a bloody
Grimalkin. ” (White’s Selborne, lett.
xx.) General Sleaman in his narra-
tive of a journey through Oude gives
some remarkable narratives of children
suckled by wolves and found associating
with their cubs.48	The Wild Elephant
a height is this exclusiveness carried, that even amidst
the terror and stupefaction of an elephant corral, when
an individual, detached from his own party in the melee
and confusion, has been driven into the enclosure along
with an unbroken herd, I have seen him repulsed in every
attempt to take refuge among them, and driven off by
heavy blows with their trunks as often as he attempted
to insinuate himself within the circle which they had
formed for their own security. There can be no rea-
sonable doubt that this jealous and exclusive policy not
only contributes to produce, but mainly serves to per-
petuate, the class of solitary elephants which are known
by the term goondahs, in India, and which from their
vicious propensities and predatory habits are called Hora,
or Rogues, in Ceylon.1
It is believed by the Singhalese that these are either
individuals, who by accident have lost their former as-
sociates and become morose and savage from rage and
solitude ; or else that being naturally vicious they have
become daring from the yielding habits of their milder
companions, and eventually separated themselves from
the rest of the herd which had refused to associate with
1 The term “rogue” is scarcely suf- and in this state is called ronkedor, an
ficiently accounted for by supposing it object of greater terror to a traveller
to be the English equivalent for the Sin- than a hundred wild ones.” (P. 142.)
ghalese word Hora. In that very curious In another passage, p. 164, he is called
book, the Life and Adventures ofJohn rutikedor, and I have seen it spelt else-
Christopher Wolf, late principal where ronquedue. Wolf does not give
Secretary at Jaffnapatam in Ceylon,	“ ronkedor ” as a term peculiar to that
see ante, note, p. 31, the author says, section of the island; but both there and
when a male elephant in a quarrel about elsewhere, it is obsolete at the present
the females “ is beat out of the field day, unless it be open to conjecture
and obliged to go without a consort, he that the modem term “rogue” is a
becomes furious and mad, killing every modification of ronquedue.
living creature, be it man or beast;49
Rogue Elephants.
them. Another conjecture is, that being almost univer-
sally males, the death or capture of particular females
may have detached them from their former companions
in search of fresh alliances.1 It is also believed that a
tame elephant escaping from activity, unable to rejoin
its former herd, and excluded from any other, becomes
a “ rogue ” from necessity. In Ceylon it is generally
believed that the rogues are all males (but of this I am
not certain), and so sullen is their disposition that
although two may be in the same vicinity, there is no
known instance of two rogues associating, or of a rogue
being seen in company with another elephant.
They spend their nights in marauding, often around
the dwellings of men, destroying plantations, trampling
down gardens, and committing serious ravages in rice
grounds and young coco-nut plantations. Hence from
their closer contact with man and his dwellings, these
outcasts become disabused of many of the terrors which
render the ordinary elephant timid and needlessly
cautious; they break through fences without fear; and
even in the daylight a rogue has been known near Ambo-
gammoa to watch a field of labourers at work in reaping
rice, and boldly to walk in amongst them, seize a sheaf
from the heap, and retire with it leisurely to the jungle.
By day they generally seek concealment, but are fre-
1 Buchanan, in his Survey of Bha-
gulpore, p. 503, says that solitary males
pf the wild buffalo, “when driven from
the herd by stronger competitors for
female society, are reckoned very dan-
gerous to meet with; for they are apt
to wreak their vengeance on whatever
they meet, and are said to kill annually
three or four people.” Livingstone
relates the same of the solitary hippo-
potamus, which becomes soured in
temper, and wantonly attacks the pass-
ing canoes. (Travels in South Africa,
p. 231.)50	The Wild Elephant.
quently to be met with prowling about the by-roads and
jungle paths, where travellers are exposed to the utmost
risk from their assaults. It is probable that this hostility
to man is the result of the enmity engendered by mea-
sures which the natives, who have a constant dread of
their visits, adopt for the protection of the growing crops.
In some districts, especially in the low country of Ba-
dulla, the villagers occasionally enclose their cottages
with rude walls of earth and branches to protect them
from nightly assaults. In places infested by them, the
visits of European sportsmen to the vicinity of their
haunts are eagerly encouraged by the natives, who think
themselves happy in lending their services to track the
herds in consideration of the benefit conferred on the
village communities by the destruction of a rogue. In
1847 one of these formidable creatures frequented for
some months the Rangbodde Pass on the great moun-
tain road leading to the sanatarium, at Neuera-ellia; and
amongst other excesses, killed a Cafire belonging to the
corps of Caffre pioneers, by seizing him with its trunk
and beating him to death against the bank.
To return to the herd : one member of it, usually
the largest and most powerful, is by common consent
implicitly followed as leader. A tusker, if there be one
in the party, is generally observed to be the commander;
but a female, if of superior energy, is as readily obeyed
as a male. In fact, in this promotion there is no
reason to doubt that supremacy is almost unconsciously
assumed by those endowed with superior vigour and
courage rather than from the accidental possession of5i
Leaders of the Herd.
greater bodily strength; and the devotion and loyalty
which the herd evince to their leader are very re-
markable. This is more readily seen in the case of a
tusker than any other, because in a herd he is generally
the object of the keenest pursuit by the hunters. On
such occasions the others do their utmost to protect him
from danger: when driven to extremity they place their
leader in the centre and crowd so eagerly in front of
him that the sportsmen have to shoot a number which
they might otherwise have spared. In one instance a
tusker, which was badly wounded by Major Rogers,
was promptly surrounded by his companions, who sup-
ported him between their shoulders, and actually suc-
ceeded in covering his retreat to the forest.
Those who have lived much in the jungle in Ceylon,
and had constant opportunities of watching the habits
of wild elephants, have witnessed instances of the sub-
mission of herds to their leaders, that suggest an inquiry
of singular interest as to the means adopted by the latter
to communicate with distinctness, orders which are
observed with the most implicit obedience by their
followers. The following narrative of an adventure in
the great central forest toward the north of the island,
communicated to me by Major Skinner, who was
engaged for some time in surveying and opening roads
through the thickly-wooded districts there, will serve
better than any abstract description to convey an idea of
the conduct of a herd on such occasions:—
“ The case you refer to struck me as exhibiting some-
thing more than ordinary brute instinct, and approached52
The Wild Elephant.
nearer to reasoning powers than any other instance I can
now remember. I cannot do justice to the scene, although
it appeared to me at the time to be so remarkable that it
left a deep impression in my mind.
“ In the height, of the dry season in Neuera-Kalawa,
you know the streams are all dried up, and the tanks
nearly so. All animals are then sorely pressed for water,
and they congregate in the vicinity of those tanks in
which there may remain ever so little of the precious
element.
“ During one of those seasons I was encamped on the
bund or embankment of a very small tank, the water in
which was so dried that its surface could not have
exceeded an area of 500 square yards. It was the only
pond within many miles, and I knew that of necessity
a very large herd of elephants, which had been in the
neighbourhood all day, must resort to it at night.
“ On the lower side of the tank, and in a line with the
embankment, was a thick forest, in which the elephants
sheltered themselves during the day. On the upper side
and all around the tank there was a considerable margin
of open ground. It was one of those beautiful bright,
clear, moonlight nights, when objects could be seen almost
as distinctly as by day, and I determined to avail myself
of the opportunity to observe the movements of the herd,
which had already manifested some uneasiness at our
presence. The locality was very favourable for my pur-
pose, and an enormous tree projecting over the tank
afforded me a secure lodgement in its branches. Having
ordered the fires of my camp to be extinguished at anAnecdote.
53
early hour, and all my followers to retire to rest, I took
up my post of observation on the overhanging bough ;
but I had to remain for upwards of two hours before any-
thing was to be seen or heard of the elephants, although
I knew they were within 500 yards of me. At length,
about the distance of 300 yards from the water, an
unusually large elephant issued from the dense cover,
and advanced cautiously across the open ground to within
100 yards of the tank, where he stood perfectly motion-
less. So quiet had the elephants become (although they
had been roaring and breaking the jungle throughout
the day and evening), that not a movement was now to
be heard. The huge vidette remained in his position,
still as a rock, for a few minutes, and then made three
successive stealthy advances of several yards (halting for
some minutes between each, with ears bent forward to
catch the slightest sound), and in this way he moved
slowly up to the water’s edge. Still he did not venture
to quench his thirst, for though his fore feet were partially
in the tank and his vast body was reflected clear in the
water, he remained for some minutes listening in perfect
stillness. Not a motion could be perceived in himself or
his shadow. He returned cautiously and slowly to the
position he had at first taken up on emerging from the
forest. Here in a little while he was joined by five
others, with which he again proceeded as cautiously, but
less slowly than before, to within a few yards of the
tank, and then posted his patrols. He then re-entered
the forest and collected around him the whole herd,
which must have amounted to between 80 and 10054
The Wild Elephant
individuals,—led them across the open ground with the
most extraordinary composure and quietness, till he
joined the advanced * guard, when he left them for a
moment and repeated his former reconnoissance at the
edge of the tank. After which, having apparently
satisfied himself that all was safe, he returned and
obviously gave the order to advance, for in a moment
the whole herd rushed into the water with a degree of
unreserved confidence, so opposite to the caution and
timidity which had marked their previous movements,
that nothing will ever persuade me that there was not
rational and preconcerted co-operation throughout the
whole party, and a degree of. responsible authority exer-
cised by the patriarch leader.
“ When the poor animals had gained possession of the
tank (the leader being the last to enter), they, seemed
to abandon themselves to enjoyment without restraint
or apprehension of danger. Such a mass of animal life
I had never before seen huddled together in so narrow
a space. It seemed to me as though they would have
nearly drunk the tank dry. I watched them with great
interest until they had satisfied themselves as well in
bathing as in drinking, when I tried how small a noise
would apprise them of the proximity of unwelcome
neighbours. I had but to break a little twig, and the
solid mass instantly took to flight like a herd of fright-
ened deer, each of the smaller calves being apparently
shouldered and carried along between two of the older
ones.” 1
1 Letter from Major Skinner.55
Elephant Wells.
In drinking, the elephant, like the camel, although
preferring water pure, shows no decided aversion to it
when discoloured with mud;1 and the eagerness with
which he precipitates himself into the tanks and streams
attests his exquisite enjoyment of the fresh coolness,
which to him is the chief attraction. In crossing deep
rivers, although his rotundity and buoyancy enable him
to swim with a less immersion than other quadrupeds,
he generally prefers to sink till no part of his huge body
is visible except the tip of his trunk, through which he
breathes, moving beneath the surface, and only now and
then raising his head to look that he is keeping the
proper direction.2 In the dry season the scanty streams
which, during the rains, are sufficient^ to convert the
rivers of the low country into torrents, often entirely
disappear, leaving only broad expanses of dry sand,
which they have swept down with them from the hills.
In this the elephants contrive to sink wells for their
1 This peculiarity was known in the
middle ages, and Phile, writing in the
fourteenth century, says, that such is
his preference for muddy water that
the elephant stirs it before he drinks.
'Yfiwp Se irti/et avyxvOtv vpiv av irivoi,
To yap SteiSts djcpt/3a>$ Siairrvci.
Phile de Eleph. i. 144.
2 A tame elephant, when taken by
his keepers to be bathed, and to have
his skin washed and rubbed, lies down
on his side, piessing his head to the
bottom under water, with only the top
of his trunk protruded, to breathe.56
The Wild Elephant
own use by scooping out the sand to the depth of four
or five feet, and leaving a hollow for the percolation of
the spring. But as the weight of the elephant would
force in the side if left perpendicular, one approach is
always formed with such a gradient that he can reach
the water with his trunk without disturbing the sur-
rounding sand.
I have reason to believe, although the fact has not been
authoritatively stated by naturalists, that the stomach of
the elephant will be found to include a chamber ana-
logous to that possessed by some of the ruminants, cal-
culated to contain a supply of water as a provision against
emergencies. The fact of his being enabled to retain a
quantity of water and discharge it at pleasure has been
long known to every observer of the habits of the
animal; but the proboscis has always been supposed to
be 44 his water-reservoir,” 1 and the theory of an internal
receptacle has not been discussed. The truth is that the
anatomy of the elephant is even yet but imperfectly
understood,2 and, although some peculiarities of his
1	Broderip’s Zoological Recreations,
p. 259-
2	For observing the osteology of the
elephant, materials are of course abun-
dant in the indestructible remains of
the animal: but the study of the intes-
tines, and the dissection of the softer
parts by comparative anatomists in
Europe, have been up to the present
time beset by difficulties. These arise
not alone from the rarity of subjects,
but even in cases where elephants have
died in these countries, decomposition
interposes, and before the thorough
examination of so vast a body can be
satisfactorily completed, the great mass
falls into putrefaction.
The principal English authorities are
An Anatomical Account of the Ele-
phant accidentally burnt in Dublin,
by A. Molyneux, a.d. 1696; which is
probably a reprint of a letter on the same
subject in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, addressed by A. Moulin to Sir
William Petty, Lond. 1682. There are
also some papers communicated to Sir
Hans Sloane, and afterwards published
in the Philosophical Transactions of
the year 1710, by Dr. P. Blair, who
had an opportunity of dissecting anStomach.
57
stomach were observed at an early period by Aristotle
and others ;1 and even their configuration described, the
function of the abnormal portion remained undetermined,
and has been only recently conjectured. An elephant
which belonged to Louis XIV. died at Versailles in
1681 at the age of seventeen, and an account of its dis-
section was published in the Memoires pour servir a
VHistoire Naturelle, under the authority of the Academy
of Sciences, in which the unusual appendages of the
stomach are pointed out with sufficient particularity, but
no suggestion is made as to their probable uses.” 2
elephant which died at Dundee in 1708.
The latter writer observes that, “ not-
withstanding the vast interest attaching
to the elephant in all ages, yet has its
body been hitherto very little subjected
to anatomical inquiries; ” and he la-
ments that the rapid decomposition of
the carcase, and other causes, had
interposed obstacles to the scrutiny of
the subject he was so fortunate as to
find access to.
In 1723 Dr. Wm. Stuckley pub-
lished Some Anatomical Observations
made upon the Dissection of an Ele-
phant ; but each of the above essays is
necessarily unsatisfactory, and little has
since been don* to supply their defects.
One of the late and most valuable
contributions to the subject, is a paper
read before the Royal Irish Academy,
on the 18th of Feb. 1847, by Professor
Harrison, who had the opportunity of
dissecting an Indian elephant which
died of acute fever; but the examina-
tion, so far as he has made it public,
extends only to the cranium, the brain,
and the proboscis, the larynx, trachea,
and oesophagus. An essential service
would be rendered to science if some
sportsman in Ceylon, or some of the
officers connected with the elephant
establishment there, would take the
trouble to forward the carcase of a
young one to England in a state fit for
dissection.
Postscriptum.—I am happy to say
that a young elephant, carefully pre-
served in spirits, has recently been ob-
tained in Ceylon, and forwarded to
Prof. Owen, of the British Museum, by
the joint exertions of M. Diard and
Major Skinner. An opportunity has
thus been afforded of which science
will reap the advantage, of devoting a
patient attention to the internal struc-
ture of this most interesting animal.
1	Aristotle noticed a peculiarity
in the intestinal configuration of the
elephant such as gave it the appearance
of having four stomachs. De Anim.
Hist. 1. ii. c. 17.
2	The passage as quoted by Buffon
from the Memoires is as follows:—
“ L’estomac avoit peu de diametre; il
en avoit moins que le colon, car son
diametre n’etoit que de quatorze pouces
dans la partie la plus large; il avoit
trois pieds et demi de longueur: l’orifice
superieur etoit a peu pres aussi eloigne
du pylore que du fond du grand cul-de-58	The Wild Elephant.
A writer in the Quarterly Review for December 1850,
says that “ Camper and other comparative anatomists
have shown that the left, or cardiac end of the stomach
in the elephant is adapted, by several wide folds of lining
membrane, to serve as a receiver for water ; ” but this is
scarcely correct, for although Camper has accurately
figured the external form of the stomach, he disposes
of the question of the interior functions with the simple
remark that its folds “ semblent en faire une esphce de
division particuliere.” 1 In like manner Sir Everard
Home, in his Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, has
not only carefully described the form of the elephant’s
stomach, and furnished a drawing of it even more
accurate than Camper; but he has equally failed to
assign any purpose for so strange a formation; con-
tenting himself with observing that the structure is a
peculiarity, and that one of the remarkable folds nearest
the orifice of the diaphragm appears to act as a valve, so
that the portion beyond may be considered as an append-
age similar to that of the hog and the peccary.2
sac qui se terminoit en une pointe com-
posee de tuniques beaucoup plus epaisses
que celles du reste de l’estomac ; il y
avoit au fond du grand cul-de-sac
plusieurs feuillets epais d’une ligne,
larges d’un pouce et demi, et disposes
irregulierement; le reste des parois inte-
rieures etoit perce de plusieurs petits
trous et par de plus grands qui corres-
pondoient a des grains glanduleux.”
(Buffon, Hist. Nat. vol. xi. p. 109.)
1 “ L’extremite voisine du cardiaque
se termine par une poche tres-conside-
rable etdoublee a l’interieure de quatorze
valvules orbiculaires qui semblent en
faire une espece de division particuliere.”
(Camper, Descriptionanatomique(Pun
Elephant m&le, p. 37, tabl. ix.)
2 “ The elephant has another pecu-
liarity in the internal structure of the
stomach. It is longer and narrower
than that of most animals. The cuti-
cular membrane of the oesophagus ter-
minates at the orifice of the stomach.
At the cardiac end, which is very
narrow and pointed at the extremity,
the lining is thick and glandular, and is
thrown into transverse folds, of which
five are broad and nine narrow. That
nearest the orifice of the oesophagus is
the broadest, and appears to act occa-
sionally as a valve, so that the part59
Sir Everard Home,
The appendage thus alluded to by Sir Everard Home
is the “ grand cul-de-sac,” noticed by the Academie des
•Sciences, and the ‘‘division particulikre,” figured by
Camper. It is of sufficient dimensions to contain ten
gallons of water, and by means of the valve above
alluded to, it can be shut off from the chamber devoted
to the process of digestion. Professor Owen is probably
the first who, not from an autopsy, but from the mere
inspection of the drawings of Camper and Home,
ventured to assert (in lectures hitherto unpublished),
that the uses of this section of the elephant’s stomach
may be analogous to those ascertained to belong to a
somewhat similar arrangement in the stomach of the
camel, one cavity of which is exclusively employed as a
beyond may be considered as an ap- vascular.” (.Lectures on Comparative
pendage similar to that of the peccary Anatomy, by Sir Everard Home,
and -the hog. ' The membrane of the Bart. 4to. Lond. vol. i. p, 155. The
cardiac portion is uniformly, smooth; figure of the elephant’s stomach is given
that of the pyloric is thicker and more in his Lectures, vol. ii. plate xviii.)6o
The Wild Elephant.
reservoir for water, and performs no function in the pre-
paration of food.1
Whilst Professor Gwen was advancing this conjecture,
another comparative anatomist, from the examination of
another portion of the structure of the elephant, was led
to a somewhat similar conclusion. Dr. Harrison of
The Trachea
drawn over,
bringing into
view its pos-
terior surface
at the bifur-
cation . . .
.....(Esophagus.
Diaphragm
Elastic Tissue
connecting Tra-
chea, Bronchi,
(Esophagus,and
Trachea - (Eso-
phageal Muscle
to the Dia-
phragm.
Dublin had, in 1847, an opportunity of dissecting the
body of an elephant which had suddenly died; and in
the course of his examination of the thoracic viscera
he observed that an unusually close connection existed
between the trachea and oesophagus, which he found to
depend bn a muscle unnoticed by any previous anatomist,
1 A similar arrangement, with some. burden in the Cordilleras of Chili and
modifications, has more recently been Peru; but both these and the camel
found in the llama of the Andes, which, are ruminants, whilst the elephant
like the camel, is used as a beast of belongs to the Pachydermata.Dr, Harrison,
6i
connecting the back of the former with the fore part of
the latter, along which the fibres descend and can be
distinctly traced to the cardiac orifice of the stomach.
Imperfectly acquainted with the habits and functions of
the elephant in a state of nature, Dr. Harrison found
it difficult to pronounce as to the use of this very pecu-
liar structure ; but looking to the intimate connection
between the mechanism concerned in the functions of
respiration and deglutition, and seeing that the proboscis
served m a double capacity as an. instrument of voice
and an organ for the prehension of food, he ventured
(apparently without adverting to the abnormal form of
the stomach) to express the opinion that this muscle,
viewing its attachment to the trachea, might either have
some influence in raising the diaphragm, and thereby
assisting in expiration, “or that it might raise the cardiac
orifice of the stomach, and so aid this organ to regurgitate a
portion of its contents into the oesophagus.” 1
Dr. Harrison, on the reflection that “we have no
satisfactory evidence that the animal ever ruminates,”
thought it useless to speculate on the latter supposition
as to the action of the newly discovered muscle, and
rather inclined to the surmise that it was designed to
assist the elephant in producing the remarkable sound
through his proboscis known as “ trumpeting ; ” but there
is little room to doubt that of the two the rejected hy-
pothesis was the more correct one. I have elsewhere
described the occurrence to which I was myself a witness,
of elephants inserting their proboscis in their mouths,
1 Proceed. Roy. Irish. Acad. vo!. iv, p 133..62	, The Wild Elephant
and withdrawing gallons of water, which could only have
been contained in the receptacle figured by Camper and
Home, and of which the true uses were discerned by the
clear intellect of Professor Owen. I was not, till very
recently, aware that a similar Observation as to this re-
markable habit of the elephant, had been made by the
author of the Ayeen Akbery, in his account of the Feel
Kanehy or elephant stables of the Emperor Akbar, in
which he says, “ an elephant frequently with his trunk
takes water out of his stomach and sprinkles himself
WATER-CELLS IN THE STOMACH OF THE CAMEL.
with it, and it is not in the least offensive.1 Forbes, in
his Oriental Memoirs, quotes this passage of the Ayeen
Akbery, but without a remark ; nor does any European
writer with whose works I am acquainted appear to have
been cognisant of the peculiarity in question.
It is" to be hoped, that Professor: Owen’s dissection of
1 Ayectt Akbery, transl. by Gladwin, vol. i. pt. i. p. 147.Mode of Eating,	63
the young elephant, recently arrived, may serve to de-
cide this highly interesting point.1 Should scientific in-
vestigation hereafter more clearly establish the fact that,
in this particular, the structure of the elephant is as-
similated to that of the llama and the camel, it will be
regarded as more than a mere coincidence, that an appa-
ratus, so unique in its purpose and action, should have
been conferred by the Creator on the three animals which
in sultry climates are, by this arrangement, enabled to
traverse arid regions in the service of man.2 To show
this peculiar organisation where it attains its fullest de-
velopment, I have given a sketch of the water-cells in the
stomach of the camel on the preceding page.
The food of the elephant is so abundant, that in eating
he never appears to be impatient or voracious, but rather
to play with the leaves and branches on which he
leisurely feeds. In riding by places where a herd has
recently halted, I have sometimes seen the bark peeled
curiously off the twigs, as though it had been done in
mere dalliance. In the same way in eating grass the
elephant selects a tussac which he draws from the ground
by a dexterous twist of his trunk, and nothing can be
more graceful than the ease with which, before conveying
1	One of the Indian names for the and burden, have, I believe, a de-
elephant is duipa, which signifies “to velopment somewhat more conspicuous
drink twice.” (Amandi, p. 513.) Can than in the rest of their congeners, of
this have reference to the peculiarity the organisation of the reticulum which
of the stomach for retaining a supply enables the ruminants generally to en-
of water ? Or has it merely reference dure thirst, and abstain from water,
to the habit of the animal to fill his but nothing in them approaches in sin-
trunk before transferring the water to gularity of character to the distinct
his mouth ?	cavities in the stomach exhibited by the
2	The buffalo and the humped cattle three animals above alluded to.
of India, which are used for draught64	The Wild Elephant
it to his mouth, he beats the earth from its roots by
striking it gently upon his fore-leg. A coco-nut he first
rolls under foot, to detach the strong outer bark, then
stripping off with his trunk the thick layer of fibre within,
he places the shell in his mouth, and swallows with evi-
dent relish the fresh liquid which flows as he crushes it
between his grinders.
The natives of the peninsula of Jaffna always look for
the periodical appearance of the elephants, at the precise
time when the fruit of the palmyra palm begins to fall to
the ground from ripeness. In like manner in the eastern
provinces where the custom prevails of cultivating what is
called chena1 land (by clearing a patch of forest for the
purpose of raising a single crop, after which the ground is
abandoned, and reverts to jungle again), although a single
elephant may not have been seen in the neighbourhood
during the early stages of the process, the Moormen,' who
are the principal cultivators of this class, will predict their
appearance with almost unerring confidence so soon as
the grains shall have begun to ripen; and although the
crop comes to maturity at different periods in different
districts, herds are certain to be seen at each in succes-
sion, as soon as it is ready to be cut. In these well-timed
excursions they resemble the bison of North America,
which, by a similarly mysterious instinct, finds its way to
portions of the distant prairies, where accidental fires have
been followed by a growth of tender grass. In Ceylon,
although the fences around these chenas are little more
1 For an explanation of this term, see Sir J. Emerson Tennent’s Ceylon,
etc. vol. i. p. 498.6c
Dread of Fences.
than lines of reeds loosely fastened together, they are
sufficient, with the presence of a single watcher, to pre-
vent the entrance of the elephants, who wait patiently till
the rice and coracan have been removed, and the watcher
withdrawn; and, then finding gaps in the fence, they may
be seen gleaning among the leavings and the stubble;
and they take their departure when these are exhausted,
apparently in the direction of some other chena, which
they have ascertained to be about to be cut.
There is something still unexplained in the dread which
an elephant always exhibits on approaching a fence, and
the reluctance %which he displays to face the slightest
artificial obstruction to his passage. In the area of the
fine old tank of Tissa-weva, close by Anarajapoora, the
natives cultivate grain, during the dry season, around the
margin where the ground has been left bare by the sub-
sidence of the water. These little patches of rice they
enclose with small sticks an inch in diameter and five or
six feet in height, such as would scarcely serve to keep
out a wild hog if he attempted to force his way through.
Passages of from ten to twenty feet wide are left between
each field, to permit the wild elephants, which abound in
the vicinity, to make their nocturnal visits to the water
still remaining in the centre of the tank. Night after
night these open pathways are frequented by herds, but
the tempting com is never touched, nor is a single fence
disturbed, although the merest movement of a trunk
would be sufficient to demolish the fragile obstruction.
Yet the same spots, the fences being left open as
soon as the grain has been cut and carried home, are66	The Wild Elephant.
eagerly entered by the elephants to glean amongst the
stubble.
Sportsmen observe that an elephant, even when en-
raged by a wound, will hesitate to charge an assailant
across an intervening hedge, but will hurry along it to
seek for an opening. It is possible that, on the part of
the elephant, there may be some instinctive conscious-
ness, that owing to his superior bulk, he is exposed to
danger from sources that might be perfectly harmless in
the case of lighter animals, and hence his suspicion that
every fence may conceal a snare or pitfall. Some simi-
lar apprehension is apparent in the deer, which shrinks
from attempting a fence of wire, although it will clear
without hesitation a solid wall of greater height.
At the same time, the caution with which the elephant
is supposed to approach insecure ground and places of
doubtful1 solidity, appears to me, so far as my own ob-
servation and experience extend, to be exaggerated, and
the number of temporary bridges which are annually
broken down by elephants in all parts of Ceylon, is
sufficient to show that, although in captivity, and when
familiar with such structures, the tame ones may, and
doubtless do, exhibit all the wariness attributed to them;
yet, in a state of liberty, and whilst unaccustomed to
such artificial appliances, their instincts are not sufficient
to ensure their safety. Besides, the fact is adverted to
elsewhere,2 that the chiefs of the Wanny, during the
1 “ One of the strongest instincts is required to cross.”—Menageries, etc.
which the elephant possesses, is this “ The'Elephant,” vol. i. pp. 17, 19,66.
which impels him to experiment upon 2 Wolf’s Life and Adventures, p.
the solidity of every surface which he 151. ■6;
Colonel Hardy.
sovereignty of the Dutch, were accustomed to take in
pitfalls the elephants which they rendered as tribute to
Government.
A fact illustrative at once of the caution and the spirit
of curiosity with which an elephant regards an unaccus-
tomed object has been frequently mentioned to me by
the officers engaged in opening roads through the forest.
On such occasions the wooden “ tracing pegs ” which
they drive into the ground to mark the levels taken
during the day, will often be withdrawn by the elephants
during the night, to such an extent as frequently to render
it necessary tp go over the work a second time, in order
to replace them.1
Colonel Hardy, formerly Deputy Quarter-Master-
General in Ceylon, when proceeding, about the year
1820, to a military out-post in the south-east of the island,
imprudently landed in an uninhabited part of the coast,
intending to take a short cut through the forest, to his
destination. He both miscalculated distance and time,
and, on the approach of nightfall, he was chased by a
vicious rogue elephant. The pursuer was close upon
him, when, to gain time, he flung down a dressing-case,
which he happened to be carrying. The device was
successful; the elephant halted, broke it open, and
minutely examined its contents, and thus gave the
colonel time to effect his escape.2
1 Private Letter from Dr. Davy, of an elephant which infested the Raja"
author of An Account of the Interior walle coffee plantation, in the vicinity
of Ceylon.	*	of Kandy. Its object seemed to be less
a The Colombo Observer for March the search for food, than the satisfying
1858, contains an offer of a reward of of its curiosity and the gratification of
twenty-five guineas for the destruction its passion for mischief. Mr. Tytler,68
The Wild Elephant.
As regards the general sagacity of the elephant, al-
though it has not been over-rated in the instances of
those whose powers have been largely developed in
captivity, an undue estimate has been formed in rela-
tion to them whilst still untamed. The difference of
instincts and habits renders it difficult to institute a just
comparison between them and other animals. Cuvier 1
is disposed to ascribe the exalted idea that prevails of
their intellect to the feats which an elephant performs
with that unique instrument, its trunk, combined with
an imposing expression of countenance: but he records
his own conviction that in sagacity it in no way excels
the dog, and some other species of Carnivora. If there
be a superiority, I am disposed to award it to the dog,
not from any excess of natural capacity, but from the
higher degree of development consequent on his more
intimate domestication and association with man. Cole-
ridge has remarked that “ the ant and the bee seem to
come nearer to man in understanding, and in the faculty
of adapting means to proximate ends.” 2
One remarkable fact was called to my attentipn by a
gentleman who resided on a coffee plantation at Rassawe,
one of the loftiest mountains of the Ambogammoa range.
More than once during the terrific thunder-bursts that
precede the rains at the change of each monsoon, he ob-
the proprietor, states that it frequented
the jungle near the estate, whence it
was its custom to sally forth at night
for the pleasure of pulling down build-
ings and trees, “ and it seemed to have
taken a spite at the pipes of the water-
works, the pillars of which it several
times broke down — its latest fancy
being to wrench off the taps.” This
elephant has since been shot.
1	Cuvier, Regne Animal. “Les
Mammiferes,” p. ?8o.
2	Table Talk,, p. 63., Sagacity.	69
served that the elephants in the adjoining forest hastened
from under cover of the trees and took up their station
in the open ground, where I saw them on one of these
occasions collected into a group; and here, he said, it
was their custom to remain till the lightning had ceased,
when they retired again into the jungle.1 It must be
observed, however, that showers, and especially light
drizzling rain, are believed to bring the elephants from
the jungle towards pathways or other openings in the
forest;—and hence, in places infested by them, timid
persons are afraid to travel in the afternoon during
uncertain weather.
When free in its native woods the elephant evinces
rather simplicity than sagacity, and its intelligence
seldom exhibits itself in cunning. The rich profusion in
which nature has supplied its food, and anticipated its
every want, has made it independent of those devices
by which carnivorous animals provide for their sub-
sistence ; and, from the absence of all rivalry between
it and the other denizens of the plains, it is never
required to resort to artifice for self-protection. For
these reasons, in its tranquil and harmless life, it may
appear to casual observers to exhibit even less than
ordinary ability ; but when danger and apprehension call
for the exertion of its powers, those who have witnessed
their display are seldom inclined to undervalue its sa-
gacity.
1 The elephant is believed by the and the Tamils have a proverb,—
Singhalese to express his uneasiness by “ Listen to the elephant, rain is
his voice, on the approach of rain; coming70
The Wild Elephant.
Mr. Cripps has related to me an instance in which a
recently captured elephant was either rendered senseless
from fear, or, as the native attendants asserted, feigned
death in order to regain its freedom. It was led from
the corral as usual between two tame ones, and had
already proceeded far towards its destination ; when,
night closing in, and the torches being lighted, it re-
fused to go on, and finally sank to the ground, appar-
ently lifeless. Mr. Cripps ordered the fastenings to be
removed from its legs, and when all attempts to raise it
had failed, so convinced was he that it was dead, that
he ordered the ropes to be taken off and the carcase
abandoned. While this was being done he and a
gentleman by whom he was accompanied leaned against
the body to rest. They had scarcely taken their de-
parture and proceeded a few yards, when, to their
astonishment, the elephant rose with the utmost alacrity,
and fled towards the jungle, screaming at the top of its
voice, its cries being audible long after it had disappeared
in the shades of the forest.7i
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II.
NARRATIVES OF THE NATIVES OF CEYLON RELATIVE
TO ENCOUNTERS WITH ROGUE ELEPHANTS.
The following narratives have been taken down by a
Singhalese gentleman, from the statements of the natives
by whom they are recounted;—and they are here inserted,
in order to show the opinion prevalent amongst the people
of Ceylon as to the habits and propensities of the rogue
elephant. The stories are given in words of my correspon-
dent, who writes in English, as follows :—
i. u We,” said my informant, who was a native trader of
Caltura, “ were on our way to Badulla, by way of Ratnapoora
and Balangodde, to barter our merchandise for coffee.
There were six in our party, myself, my brother-in-law, and
four coolies, who carried on pingoes1 our merchandise,
which consisted of cloth and brass articles. About
4 o’clock, p. M., we were close to Idalgasinna, and our
coolies were rather unwilling to go further for fear of
elephants, which they said were sure to be met with at that
noted place, especially as there had been a slight drizzling
of rain during the whole afternoon. I was as much afraid
of elephants as the coolies themselves; but I was anxious
1 Yokes borne on the shoulder with a package at each end.72
The Wild Elephant.
to proceed, and so, after a few words of encouragement
addressed to them, and a prayer or two offered up to Saman
dewiyoj- we resumed our journey. I also took the further
precaution of hanging up a few leaves.1 2 As the rain was
coming down fast and thick, and I was anxious to get to
our halting-place before night, we moved on at a rapid pace.
My brother-in-law was in the van of the party, I myself
was in the rear, and the four coolies between us, all moving
along on a rugged, rocky, and difficult path ; as the road to
Badulla till lately was on the sloping side of a hill, covered
with jungle, pieces of projecting rock, and brushwood. It was
about five o'clock in the evening, or a little later, and we
had hardly cleared the foot of the hill and got to the plain
below, when a rustling of leaves and a crackling of dry
brushwood were heard on our right, followed immediately by
the trumpeting of a hora allia,3 which was making towards
us. We all fled, followed by the elephant. I, who was in
the rear of the party, was the first to take to flight; the
coolies threw away their pingoes, and my brother-in-law his
umbrella, and all ran in different directions. I hid myself
behind a large boulder of granite nearly covered by jungle :
but as my place of concealment was on high ground, I
could see all that was going on below. The first thing I
observed was the elephant returning to the place where one
of the pingoes was lying: he was carrying one of the
coolies in a coil of his trunk. The body of the man was
dangling with the head downward. I cannot say whether
he was then alive or not; I could not perceive any marks of
1	The tutelary spirit of the sacred from the attacks of wild animals, and
mountain, Adam’s Peak.	especially of elephants. Can it be
2	The Singhalese hold the belief, that the latter avoid the path, on dis-
that twigs taken from one bush and covering this evidence of the proximity
placed on another growing close to a of recent passengers ?
pathway, ensure protection to travellers 3 A rogue elephant.73
Stories by Natives.
blood or bruises on his person*, but he appeared to be lifeless.
The elephant placed him down on the ground, put the
pingo on his (the man’s) shoulder, steadying both the
man and the pingo with his trunk and fore legs. But the
man of course did not move or stand up with his pingo.
Seeing this, the elephant again raised the cooly and dashed
him against the ground, and then trampled the body to a
very jelly. This done, he took up the pingo and moved
away from the spot; but at the distance of about a fathom
or two, laid it down again, and ripping open one of the
bundles, took out of it all the contents, sojnans,l cambayas,2
handkerchiefs, and several pieces of white cambrick cloth,
all which he tore to small pieces, and flung them wildly
here and there. He did the same with all the other pingoes.
When this was over the elephant quietly walked away into
the jungle, trumpeting all the way as far as I could hear.
When danger was past I came out of my concealment, and
returned to the place where we had halted that morning.
Here the rest of my companions joined me soon after.
The next morning we set out again on our journey, our party
being now increased by some seven or eight traders from
Salpity Corle: but this time we did not meet with the
elephant. We found the mangled corpse of our cooly on .the
same spot where I had seen it the day before, together with
the torn pieces of my cloths, of which we collected as fast
as we could the few which were serviceable, and all the
brass utensils which were quite uninjured. That elephant
was a noted rogue. He had before this killed many people
on that road, especially those carrying pingoes of coco-nut
oil and ghee. He was afterwards killed by an Englishman.
The incidents I have mentioned above, took place about
twenty years ago.”
1 Woman’s robe.
2 The figured cloth worn by men.74
The Wild Elephant.
The following also relates to the same locality. It was
narrated to me by an old Moorman of Barberyn, who, during
his earlier years, led the life of a pedlar.
2.	“ I and another/’ said he, “ were on our way to Badulla,
one day some twenty-five or thirty years ago. We were
quietly moving along a path which wound round a hill, when
all of a sudden, and without the slightest previous intimation
either by the rustling of leaves or by any other sign, a huge
elephant with short tusks rushed to the path. Where he had
been before I can’t say ; I believe he must have been lying in
wait for travellers. In a moment he rushed forward to the
road, trumpeting dreadfully, and seized my companion. I,
who happened to be in the rear, took to flight, pursued by
the elephant, which had already killed my companion by
striking him against the ground. I had not moved more
than seven or eight fathoms, when the elephant seized me,
and threw me up with such force, that I was carried high
into the air towards a Cahata tree, whose branches caught
me and prevented my falling to the ground. By this I
received no other injury than the dislocation of one of my
wrists. I do not know whether the elephant saw me after
he had hurled me away through the air; but certainly he
did not come to the tree to which I was then clinging : even
if he had come, he couldn’t have done me any more harm,
as the branch on which I was was far beyond the reach of
his trunk, and the tree itself too large for him to pull down.
The next thing I saw was the elephant returning to the
corpse of my companion, which he again threw on the
ground, and placing one of his fore-feet on it, he tore it with
his trunk limb after limb; and dabbled in the blood that
flowed from the shapeless mass of flesh which he was still
holding under his foot.”
3.	“In 1847 or ’46,” said another informant, “I was a75
Stories by Natives.
superintendent of a coco-nut estate belonging to Mr.
Armitage, situated about twelve miles from Negombo. A
rogue elephant did considerable injury to the estate at that
time; and one day, hearingthat it was then on the plantation,
a Mr. Lindsay, an Englishman, who was proprietor of the
adjoining property, and myself, accompanied by some seven
or eight people of the neighbouring village, went out, carry-
ing with us six rifles loaded and primed. We continued to
walk along a path which, near one of its turns, had some
bushes on one side. We had calculated to come up with the
brute where it had been seen half an hour before ; but no
sooner had one of our men, who was walking foremost, seen
the animal at the distance of some fifteen or twenty fathoms,
than he exclaimed, ‘ There! there! * and immediately took to
his heels, and we all followed his example. The elephant
did not see us until we had run some fifteen or twenty paces
from the spot where we turned, when he gave us chase,
screaming frightfully as he came on. The Englishman
managed to climb a tree, and the rest of my companions did
the same; as for myself I could not, although I made one or
two superhuman efforts. But there was no time to be lost.
The elephant was running at me with his trunk bent down
in a curve towards the ground. At this critical moment Mr.
Lindsay held out his foot to me, with the help of which and
then of the branches of the tree, which were three or four
feet above my head, I managed to scramble up to a branch.
The elephant came directly to the tree and attempted to
force it down, which he could not. He first coiled his trunk
round the stem, and pulled it with all his might, but with
no effect. He then applied his head to the tree, and pushed
for several minutes, but with no better success. He then
trampled with his feet all the projecting roots, moving, as he
did so, several times round and round the tree. Lastly,76
The Wild Elephant.
failing in all this, and seeing a pile of timber, which I had
lately cut, at a short distance from us, he removed it all
(thirty-six pieces) one at a time to the root of the tree, and
piled them up in a regular business-like manner; then
placing his hind feet on this pile, he raised the fore part of
his body, and reached out his trunk, but still he could not
touch us, as we were too far above him. The Englishman
then fired, and the ball took effect somewhere on the ele-
phant’s head, but did not kill him. It made him only the
more furious. The next shot, however, levelled him to the
ground. I afterwards brought the skull of the animal to
Colombo, and it is still to be seen at the house of Mr.
Armitage.”
4. “ One night a herd of elephants entered a village in the
Four Cories. After doing considerable injury to plaintain
bushes and young coco-nut trees, they retired, the villagers
being unable to do anything to protect their fruit trees from
destruction. But one elephant was left behind, who con-
tinued to scream the whole night through at the same spot.
It was then discovered that the elephant, on seeing a jak
fruit on a tree somewhat beyond the reach of his trunk,
had raised himself on his hind legs, placing his fore feet
against the stem, in order to lay hold of the fruit, but
unluckily for him there happened to be another tree standing
so close to it that the vacant space between the two stems
was only a few inches. During his attempts to take hold
of the fruit one of his legs happened to get in between the
two trees, where, on account of his weight and his clumsy
attempts to extricate himself, it got so firmly wedged that
he could not remove it, and in this awkward position he
remained for some days, till he died on the spot.”77
CHAPTER III.
ELEPHANT SHOOTING.
As the shooting of an elephant, whatever endurance
and adroitness the sport may display in other respects,
requires the smallest possible skill as a marksman, the
numbers which are annually slain in this way may be
regarded less as a test of the expertness of the sportsman,
than as evidence of the multitudes of elephants abound-
ing in those parts of Ceylon to which they resort. One
officer, Major Rogers, killed upwards of 1,400 ; another,
Captain Gallwey, has the credit of slaying more than
half that number; Major Skinner, the Commissioner of
Roads, almost as many; and less persevering aspirants
follow at humbler distances.1
1 To persons like myself, who are
not addicted to what is called “sport,”
the statement of these wholesale slaugh-
ters is calculated to excite surprise and
curiosity as to the nature of a passion
that impels men to self-exposure and
privation, in a pursuit which presents
nothing but the monotonous recurrence
of scenes of blood and suffering. Sir S.
Baker, who has recently published,
under the title of “ The Rifle and the
Hound in Ceylon,” an account of his
exploits in the forest, gives us the
assurance that “all real sportsmen arc
tender-hearted men, who shun cruelty
to an animal, and are easily moved
by a tale of distress; ” and that al-
though man is naturally bloodthirsty,
and a beast of prey by instinct, yet
that the true sportsman is distinguished
from the rest of the human race by
his “love of nature and of noble sce-
neryIn support of this pretension
to a gentler nature than the rest of
mankind, the author proceeds to attest
his own abhorrence of cruelty by nar-78
The Wild Elephant.
But notwithstanding this prodigious destruction, a
reward of a few shillings per head offered by the
Government for taking elephants was claimed for 3,500
destroyed in part of the northern province alone, in
less than three years prior to 1848; and between 1851
and 1856, a similar reward was paid for 2,000 in the
southern province, between Galle and Hambangtotte.
Although there is little opportunity in an elephant
battue for the display of proficiency as a shot there is
one feature in the sport, as conducted in Ceylon, which
rating the sufferings of an old hound,
which, although “ toothless,” he cheered
on to assail a boar at bay, but the poor
dog recoiled “covered with blood, cut
nearly in half, with a wound fourteen
inches in length, from the lower part
of the belly, passing up the flank, com-
pletely severing the muscles of the
hind leg, and extending up the spine ;
his hind leg having the appearance of
being nearly off.” In this state, forget-
ful of the character he had so lately
given of the true sportsman, as a lover
of nature and a hater of cruelty, he
encouraged “ the poor old dog,” as he
calls him, to resume the fight with the
boar, which lasted for an hour, when
he managed to call the dogs off; and,
perfectly exhausted, the mangled hound
crawled out of the jungle with several
additional wounds, including a severe
gash in his throat. “He fell from
exhaustion, and we made a litter with
two poles and a horsecloth to carry
him home.” (P. 314.) If such were
the habitual enjoyments of this class of
sportsmen, their motiveless massacres
would admit of no manly justification.
In comparison with them one is dis-
posed to regard almost with favour the
exploits of a hunter like Major Rogers,
who is said to have applied the value
of the ivory obtained from his encoun-
ters towards the purchase of his suc-
cessive regimental commissions, and
had, therefore, an object, however dis-
proportionate, in his slaughter of 1,400
elephants.
One gentleman in Ceylon, not less
distinguished for his genuine kindness
of heart, than for his marvellous suc-
cess in shooting elephants, avowed to
me that the eagerness with which he
found himself impelled to pursue them
had often excited surprise in his own
mind; and although he had never read
the theory of Lord Kames, or the
speculations of Vicesirous Knox, he
had come to the conclusion that the
passion thus excited within him was a
remnant of the hunter’s instinct, with
which man was originally endowed to
enable him, by the chase, to support
existence in a state of nature, and
which, though rendered dormant by
civilisation, had not been utterly eradi-
cated.
This theory is at least more con-
sistent and intelligible than the “ love
of nature and scenery,” sentimentally
propounded by the author quoted
above.Dr. Harrison.
79
contrasts favourably with the slaughterhouse details
chronicled with revolting minuteness in some recent
accounts of elephant shooting in South Africa. The
practice in Ceylon is to aim invariably at the head, and
the sportsman finds his safety to consist in boldly facing
the animal, advancing to within fifteen paces, and lodging
a bullet, either in the temple or in the hollow over the
eye, or in a well-known spot immediately above the
trunk, where the weaker structure of the skull affords
an easy access to the brain.1 The region of the ear is
also a fatal spot, and often resorted to,—the places I have
mentioned in the front of the head being only accessible
when the animal is “ charging.” Professor Harrison,,in
his communication to the Royal Irish Academy on the
Anatomy of the Elephant, has rendered an intelligible
explanation of this in the following passage descriptive
of the cranium:—“ It exhibits two remarkable facts :
first, the small space occupied by the brain; and,
secondly, the beautiful and curious structure of the bones
of the head. The two tables of all these bones, except
the occipital, are separated by rows of large cells, some
from four to five inches in length, others only small,
irregular, and honey-comb-like:—these all communicate
with each- other, and, through the frontal sinuses, with
1 The vulnerability of the elephant
in this region of the head was known
to the ancients, and Pliny, describing
a combat of elephants in the amphi-
theatre at Rome, says, that one was
slain by a single blow, “pilum sub
oculo adactum, in vitalia capitis vene-
rat.” (Lib. viii. c. 7.) Notwithstand-
ing the comparative facility of access
to the brain afforded at this spot, an
ordinary leaden bullet is not certain
to penetrate, and frequently becomes
flattened. The hunters, to counteract
this, are accustomed to harden the ball,
by the introduction of a small portion
of type-metal along with the lead.8o
The Wild Elephant.
the cavity of the nose, and also with the tympanum
or drum of each ear ; consequently, as in some birds,
these cells are filled with air, and thus while the skull
attains a great size in order to afford an extensive surface
for the attachment of muscles, and a mechanical support
for the tusks, it is at the same time very light and
SECTION OF ELEPHANT'S HEAD.
buoyant in proportion to its bulk ; a property the more
valuable as the animal is fond of water and bathes in
deep rivers.”
Generally speaking, as regards the elephants of Ceylon,
a single ball, planted in the forehead, ends the existence
of the noble creature instantaneously : and expert sports-Cruelty.	81
men have been known to kill right and left, one with
each barrel; but occasionally an elephant will not fall
before several shots have been lodged in his head. But
as regards the African elephant, Sir S. Baker, the explorer
of the Nile, than whom no one has had greater experi-
ence of elephant shooting in both countries, is of opinion
that, owing to a peculiar configuration of the head, it is
next to impossible to kill by a front shot.1
Contrasted with this, one reads with a shudder the
sickening details of the African huntsman approaching
behind the retiring animal, and of the torture inflicted by
the shower of bullets which tear up its flesh and lacerate
its flank and shoulders.2
1 “The head is so peculiarly formed
that the ball either passes over the
brain, or lodges in the immensely solid
bones and cartilages that contain the
roots of the tusks .*.....The brain
of the African species, he says, rests
upon a plate of bone exactly above the
roots of the upper grinders and is thus
wonderfully protected from a front shot,
as it lies so low that the ball passes over
it when the elephant raises his head,
which he invariably does when in anger,
until close to the object of his attack.
.... I had always held the opinion
that the African elephant might be
killed with the same facility as that of
Ceylon by a forehead shot; but I have
found by much experience that I was
entirely wrong and that although by
chance an African elephant may be
killed by the front shot, it is the excep-
tion to the rule.” (The A Ibert Nyanza,
vol. i. p. 277.)
aIn Mr. Gordon Cumming’s account
of a Hunters Life iti South Africa,
there is a narrative of his pursuit of a
wounded elephant which he had lamed
by lodging a ball in its shoulder-blade.
It limped slowly towards a tree, against
which it leaned itself in helpless agony,
whilst its pursuer seated himself in front
of it, in safety, to boil his coffee, and
observe its sufferings. The story is
continued as follows:—“ Having ad-
mired him for a considerable time, /
resolved to make experiments on vul-
nerable points ; and approaching very
near I fired several bullets at different
parts of his enormous skull. He only
acknowledged the shots by a salaam-like
movement of his trunk, with the point
of which he gently touched the wounds
with a striking and peculiar action.
Surprised and shocked at finding that
I was only prolonging the sufferings of
the noble beast, which bore its trials
with such dignified composure, I re-
solved to finish the proceeding with
all possible despatch, and accordingly
opened fire upon him from the left side,
aiming at the shoulder. I first fired
six shots with the two-grooved rifle,
which must have eventually proved
mortal. After which I fired six shots82
The Wild Elephant
The shooting of elephants in Ceylon has been de-
scribed with tiresome iteration in the successive journals
of sporting gentlemen, but one who turns to their pages
for natural traits of the animal and his instincts is dis-
appointed to find little beyond graphic sketches of the
daring and exploits of his pursuers, most of whom,
having had no further opportunity of observation than
is derived from a casual encounter with the outraged
animal, have apparently tried to exalt their own prowess
by misrepresenting the ordinary character of the elephant,
describing it as “ savage, wary, and revengeful.”1
These epithets may undoubtedly apply to the outcasts
from the herd, the “ rogues ” or hora allia, but so small
is the proportion of these that there is not probably more
than one rogue to be found for every five hundred of
at the same part with the Dutch six-
pounder. Large tears now trickled
from, his eyes, which he slowly shut and
opened, his colossal frame shivered
convulsively, and falling on his side,
he expired.” (Vol. ii. p. io.)
In another place, after detailing the
manner in which he assailed a poor
animal, he says: “I was loading and
firing as fast as could be, sometimes at
the head, sometimes behind the shoul-
der, until my elephant’s fore-quarter
was a mass of gore; notwithstanding
which he continued to hold on, leaving
the grass and branches of the forest
scarlet in his wake...........Having
fired thirty-five rounds with my two-
grooved rifle, I opened upon him with
the Dutch six-pounder, and when forty
bullets had perforated his hide, he began
for the first time to evince signs of a
dilapidated constitution.” The dis-
gusting description is closed thus:
“ Throughout the charge he repeatedly
cooled his person with large quantities
of water, which he ejected from his
trunk over his sides and back, and just
as the pangs of death came over him,
he stood trembling violently beside a
thorn tree, and kept pouring water
into his bloody mouth until he died,
when he pitched heavily forward with
the whole weight of his fore-quarters
resting on the points of his tusks. The
strain was fair, and the tusks did not
yield; but the portion of his head in
which the tusks were embedded, ex-
tending a long way above the eye,
yielded and burst with a muffled crash.”
\lb. vol. ii. pp. 4, 5.)
1 The Rifle and the Hound in
Ceylon; by Sir S. Baker, pp. 8, 9.
“ Next to a rogue in ferocity, and
even more persevering in the pursuit of
her victim, is a female elephant.” But
he appends the significant qualification,
“ when her young one has been killed1”
[Ibid. p. 13.)Attitude when at rest.	83
those in herds; and it is a manifest error, arising from
imperfect information, to extend this censure to elephants
generally, or to suppose it to be an animal 4‘thirsting
for blood, lying in wait in the jungle to rush on the
unwary passer-by, and knowing no greater pleasure than
the act of crushing his victim to a shapeless mass beneath
his feet.”1 The cruelties practised by hunters have no
doubt taught these sagacious creatures to be cautious
and alert, but their precautions are simply defensive ;
and beyond the alarm and apprehension which they
evince on the approach of man, they exhibit no indication
of hostility or thirst for blood.
An ordinary traveller seldom comes upon elephants
unless after sunset or towards daybreak, as they go to or
return from their nightly visits to the tanks : but when
by accident a herd is disturbed by day, they evince, if
unattacked, no disposition to become assailants; and if
the attitude of defence which they instinctively assume
prove sufficient to check the approach of the intruder, no
further demonstration is to be apprehended.
Even the hunters who go in search of them find them
in positions and occupations altogether inconsistent with
the idea of their being savage, wary, or revengeful.
Their demeanour when undisturbed is indicative of
gentleness and timidity, and their actions bespeak las-
situde and indolence, induced not alone by heat, but
probably ascribable in some degree to the fact that the
night has been spent in watchfulness and amusement.
A few are generally browsing listlessly on the trees and
1 The Rifle and the Hound, p. 13.84	The Wild Elephant.
plants within reach, others fanning themselves with leafy
branches, and a few are asleep; whilst the young run
playfully among the herd, the emblems of innocence, as
the older ones are of peacefulness and gravity.
Almost every elephant may be observed to exhibit
some peculiar action of the limbs when standing at rest;
some move the head monotonously in a circle, or from
right to left; some swing their feet back and forward;
others flap their ears or sway themselves from side to side,
or rise and sink by alternately bending and straightening
the fore knees. As the opportunities of observing this
custom have been almost confined to elephants in cap-
tivity, it has been conjectured to arise from some morbid
habit contracted during the length of a voyage by sea,1
cr from an instinctive impulse to substitute an artificial
motion in lieu of their wonted exercise; but this sup-
position is erroneous; the propensity being equally dis-
played by those at liberty and those in captivity. When
surprised by sportsmen in the depths of the jungle,
individuals of a herd are always to be seen occupied in
swinging their limbs in this manner; and in the corrals
which I have seen, where whole herds have been captured,
the elephants, in the midst of the utmost excitement, and
even after the most vigorous charges, if they halted for
a moment in stupor and exhaustion, manifested their
wonted habit, and swung their limbs or swayed their
bodies to and fro incessantly. So far from its being a
substitute for exercise, those in the Government employ-
ment in Ceylon are observed to practise their acquired
1 Menageries etc. “ The Elephant,” ch. i. p. az.85
Love of quiet
motion, whatever it may be, with increased vigour when
thoroughly fatigued after excessive work. Even the
favourite practice of fanning themselves with a leafy
branch seems less an enjoyment in itself than a resource
when listless and at rest. The term “fidgetty” seems
to describe appropriately the temperament of the ele-
phant.
They evince the strongest love of retirement and a
corresponding dislike to intrusion. The approach of a
stranger is perceived less by the eye, the quickness of
which is not remarkable (besides which its range is
obscured by the foliage), than by sensitive smell and
singular acuteness of hearing; and the whole herd is
put in instant but noiseless motion towards some deeper
and more secure retreat. The effectual manner in which
an animal of the prodigious size of the elephant can
conceal himself, and the motionless silence which he
preserves, is quite surprising ; whilst beaters pass and
repass within a few yards of his hiding place, he will
maintain his ground till the hunter, creeping almost
close to his legs, sees his little eye peering out through
the leaves, when, finding himself discovered, the elephant
breaks away with a crash, levelling the brushwood in his
headlong career.
If surprised in open ground, where stealthy retreat is
impracticable, a herd will hesitate in indecision, and, after
a few meaningless movements, stand huddled together in
a group, whilst one or two, more adventurous than the
rest, advance a few steps to reconnoitre. Elephants are
generally observed to be bolder in open ground than in86
The Wild Elephant.
cover, but, if bold at all, far more dangerous in cover
than in open ground.
In searching for them, sportsmen often avail them-
selves of the expertness of the native trackers ; and
notwithstanding the demonstration of Combe that the
brain of the timid Singhalese is deficient in the organ of
destructiveness,1 he shows an instinct for hunting, and
exhibits in the pursuit of the elephant a courage and
adroitness far surpassing in interest the mere handling of
the rifle, which is the principal share of the proceeding
that falls to his European companions.
The beater on these occasions has the double task of
finding the game and carrying the guns; and, in an
animated communication to me, an experienced sports-
man describes “ this light and active creature, with his
long glossy hair hanging down his shoulders, every
muscle quivering with excitement; and his countenance
lighting up with intense animation, leaping from rock to
rock, as nimble as a chamois, tracking the gigantic game
like a blood-hound, falling behind as he comes up with
it, and as the elephants, baffled and irritated, make the
first stand, passing one rifle into your eager hand and
holding the other ready whilst right and left each barrel
performs its mission, and if fortune does not flag, and
the second gun is as successful as the first, three or four
huge carcases are piled one on another within a space
equal to the area of a dining room.”2
It is curious that in these encounters the herd never
1 System of Phrenology, by Geo. a Private letter from Capt. Philip
Combe, vol. i. p. 256.	Payne Gallwey.Mode of attack.	87
rush forward in a body, as buffaloes or bisons do, but
only one elephant at a time moves in advance of the
rest to confront, or, as it is called, to “charge,” the
assailants. I have heard of but one instance in which
two so advanced as champions of their companions.
Sometimes, indeed, the whole herd will follow a leader,
and manoeuvre in his rear like a body of cavalry; but
so large a party are necessarily liable to panic; and, one
of them having turned in alarm, the entire body retreat
with terrified precipitation.
As regards boldness and courage, a strange variety of
temperament is observable amongst elephants, but it may
be affirmed that they are much more generally timid
than courageous. One herd may be as difficult to ap-
proach as deer, gliding away through the jungle so gently
and quickly that scarcely a trace marks their passage;
another, in apparent stupor, will huddle themselves
together like swine, and allow their assailant to come
within a few yards before they break away in terror; and
a third will await his approach without motion, and then
advance with fury to the “ charge.”
In individuals the same differences are discernible;
one flies on the first appearance of danger, whilst
another, alone and unsupported, will face a whole host
of enemies. When wounded and infuriated with pain,
many* of them become literally savage;1 but, so unac-
customed are they to act as assailants, and so awkward
1 Some years ago an elephant which trampled him to death in the bazaar
had been wounded by a native, near before a crowd of terrified spectators,
Hambangtotte, pursued the man into and succeeded in making good its re-
the town, followed him along the street, treat to the jungle.88
The Wild Elephant.
and inexpert in using their strength, that they rarely or
ever succeed in killing a pursuer who falls into their
power. Although the pressure of a foot, a blow with
the trunk, or a thrust with the tusk, could scarcely fail to
prove fatal, three-fourths of those so overtaken have
escaped without serious injury. So great is this chance
of impunity, that the sportsman prefers to approach
within about fifteen paces of the advancing elephant, a
space which gives time for a second fire should the first
shot prove ineffectual, and should both fail there is still
opportunity for flight
Amongst full-grown timber, a skilful runner can escape
from an elephant by “ dodging ” round the trees, but in
cleared land, and low brushwood, the difficulty is much
increased, as the small growth of underwood which
obstructs the movements of man presents no obstacle to
those of an elephant. On the other hand, on level and
open ground the chances are rather in favour of the ele-
phant, as his pace in full flight exceeds that of man,
although as a general rule, it is unequal to that of a
horse, as has been sometimes asserted.1
The incessant slaughter of elephants by sportsmen in
Ceylon, appears to be merely in subordination to the in-
fluence of the organ of destructiveness, since the carcase
is never applied to any useful purpose, but left to de-
compose and to defile the air of the forest The flesh is
occasionally tasted as a matter of curiosity : as a steak
it is coarse and tough; but the tongue is as delicate as
1 Shaw, in his Zoology, asserts that horse can gallop. London, 1800-6,
an elephant can run as swiftly as a vol. i. p. 216Edible portions.	89
that of an ox; and the foot is said to make palatable
soup. The Caffres attached to the pioneer corps in the
Kandyan province are in the habit of securing the heart
of any elephant shot in their vicinity, and say it is their
custom to eat it in Africa. The hide it has been found
impracticable to tan in Ceylon, or to convert to any
useful purpose, but the bones of those shot have of late
years been collected and used for manuring coffee estates.
The hair of the tail, which is extremely strong and homy,
is mounted by the native goldsmith, and made into
bracelets; and the teeth are sawn by the Moormen at
Galle (as they used to be by the Romans during a
scarcity of ivory) into plates, out of which they fashion
numerous articles of ornament, knife-handles, card racks,
and “presse-papiers.”90
The Wild Elephant.
NOTE.
Amongst extraordinary recoveries from desperate wounds, I
venture to record here an instance which occurred in Ceylon
to a gentleman while engaged in the chase of elephants, and
which, I apprehend, has few parallels in pathological experi-
ence. Lieutenant Gerard Fretz. of the Ceylon Rifle
Regiment, whilst firing at an elephant in the vicinity of Fort
MacDonald, in Ouvah, was wounded in the face by the
bursting of his fowling-piece, on the 22nd January, 1828. He
was then about thirty-two years of age. On raising him, it
was found that part of the breech of the gun and about two
inches of the barrel had been driven through the frontal sinus
at the junction of the nose and forehead. It had sunk almost
perpendicularly till the iron plate called “the tail-pin,” by
which the barrel is made fast to the stock by a screw, had
descended through the palate, carrying with it the screw, one
extremity of which had forced itself into the right nostril,
where it was discernible externally, whilst the headed end
lay in contact with his tongue. To extract the jagged mass
of iron thus sunk in the ethmoidal and sphenoidal cells was
found hopelessly impracticable ; but strange to tell, after the
inflammation subsided, Mr. Fretz recovered rapidly; his
general health was unimpaired, and he returned to his regi-
ment with this singular appendage firmly embedded behind
the bones of his face. He took his turn of duty as usual,
attained the command of his company, participated in all theSingttlar Wound.	91
enjoyments of the mess-room, and died eight years afterwards,
on the 1 st of April, 1836, not from any consequences of this
fearful wound, but from fever and inflammation brought on
by other causes.
So little was he apparently inconvenienced by the presence
of the strange body in his palate that he was accustomed with
his finger partially to undo the screw, which but for its
extreme length he might altogether have withdrawn. To
enable this to be done, and possibly to assist by this means
the extraction of the breech itself through the original orifice
(which never entirely closed), an attempt was made in 1835
to take off a portion of the screw with a file ; but, after having
cut it three parts through the operation was interrupted,
chiefly owing to the carelessness and indifference of Capt.
Fretz, whose death occurred before the attempt could be
resumed. The piece of iron, on being removed after his
decease, was found to measure 2J inches in length, and
weighed two scruples more than two ounces and three
quarters. A cast of the breech and screw now forms
No. 2790 amongst the deposits in the Medical Museum of
Chatham.PART II.
MODE OF CAPTURE.95
CHAPTER I.
AN ELEPHANT CORRAL.
So long as the elephants of Ceylon were merely required
in small numbers for the pageantry of the native prin-
ces, or the sacred processions of the Buddhist temples,
their capture was effected either by the instrumentality of
female decoys, or by the artifices and agility of the
individuals and castes who devoted themselves to their
pursuit and training. But after the arrival of the Euro-
pean conquerors of the island, and when it had become
expedient to take advantage of the strength and intel-
ligence of these creatures in clearing forests and con-
structing roads and other works, establishments were or-
ganised on a great scale by the Portuguese and Dutch,
and the supply of elephants kept up by periodical battues
conducted at the cost of the Government, on a plan
similar to that adopted on the continent of India, when
herds varying in number from twenty to one hundred
and upwards are driven into concealed enclosures and
secured.
In both these processes, success is entirely dependent
on the skill with which the captors turn to advantage the96	The Wild Elephant.
panic and inexperience of the wild elephant, since all
attempts would be futile to subdue or confine by ordinary
force an animal of such strength and sagacity.1
Knox describes with circumstantiality the mode
adopted, two centuries ago, by the servants of the King
of Kandy to catch elephants for the royal stud. He
says, “After discovering the retreat of such as have
tusks, unto these they drive some she elephants, which
they bring with them for the purpose, which, when once
the males have got a sight of, they will never leave, but
follow them wheresoever they go; and the females are so
used to it that they will do whatsoever, either by word
or a beck, their keepers bid them. And so they delude
them along through towns and countries, and through the
streets of the city, even to the very gates of the king’s
palace, where sometimes they seize upon them by snares,
1 The device of taking them by-
means of pitfalls still prevails in India;
but in addition to the difficulty of pro-
viding against that caution with which
the elephant is supposed to reconnoitre
suspicious ground, it has the further
disadvantage of exposing him to injury
from bruises and dislocations in his
fall. Still it was the mode of capture
employed by the Singhalese, and so
late as 1750 Wolf relates that the
native chiefs of the Wanny, when
capturing elephants for the Dutch,
made “ pits some fathoms deep in those
places whither the elephant is wont to
go in search of food, across which were
laid poles covered with branches and
baited with the food of which he is
fondest, making towards which he finds
himself taken unawares. Thereafter
being subdued by fright and exhaustion,
he was assisted to raise himself to the
surface by means of hurdles and earth,
which he placed underfoot as they
were thrown down to him, till he was
enabled to step out on solid ground,
when the noosers and decoys were in
readiness to tie him up to the nearest
tree.” (See Wolf’s Life and Adven-
tures, p. 152.) Shakspeare appears to
have been acquainted with the plan of
taking elephants in pitfalls: Decius,
encouraging the conspirators, reminds
them of Caesar’s taste for anecdotes of
animals, by which he would undertake
to lure him to his fate :
“ For he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betrayed with
trees,
And bears with glasses: elephants with
holes. ”
Juliu6 Cesar, Act ii. Scene I.Capture in India.	97
and sometimes by driving them into a kind of pound,
they catch them.” 1
In Nepaul and Burmah, and throughout the Chin-
Indian Peninsula, when in pursuit of single elephants,
either rogues detached from the herd, or individuals
who have been marked for the beauty of their ivory,
the natives avail themselves of the aid of females in
order to effect their approaches and secure an oppor-
tunity of casting a noose over the foot of the destined
captive. All accounts concur in expressing high admira-
tion of their courage and address; but from what has
fallen under my own observation, added to the descrip-
tions I have heard from other eye-witnesses, I am inclined
to believe that in such exploits the Moormen of Ceylon
evince a daring and adroitness, surpassing all others.
These professional elephant catchers, or, as they are
called, Panickeas, inhabit the Moorish villages in the
north and north-east of the island, and from time im-
memorial have been engaged in taking elephants, which
are afterwards trained by Arabs, chiefly for the use of
the rajahs and native princes in the south of India,
whose vakeels are periodically despatched to make pur-
chases in Ceylon.
The ability evinced by these men in tracing elephants
through the woods has almost the certainty of instinct;
and hence their services are eagerly sought by the Euro-
pean sportsmen who go down into their country in search
of game. So keen is their glance, that like hounds
running “ breast high ” they will follow the course of an
1 Knox's Historical Relation of Ceylon, a.d. j68i, part i. ch. vi. p. 21.
H98
The Wild Elephant.
elephant, almost at the top of their speed, over glades
covered with stunted grass, where the eye of a stranger
would fail to discover a trace of its passage, and on
through forests strewn with dry leaves, where it seems
impossible to perceive a footstep. Here they are guided
by a bent or broken twig, or by a leaf dropped from the
animal’s mouth, on which the pressure of a tooth may be
detected. If at fault, they fetch a circuit like a setter,
till lighting on some fresh marks, they go a-head again
with renewed vigour. So delicate is the sense of smell
in the elephant, and so indispensable is it to go against
the wind in approaching him, that on those occasions
when the wind is so still that its direction cannot be
otherwise discerned, the Panickeas will suspend the film
of a gossamer to determine it and shape their course
accordingly.
They are enabled by the inspection of the footmarks,
when impressed in soft clay, to describe the size as well
as the number of a herd before it is seen; the height of
an elephant at the shoulder being as nearly as possible
twice the circumference of his fore foot.1
On overtaking the game their courage is as conspicuous
as their sagacity. If they have confidence in the sports-
man for whom they are finding, they will advance to the
very heel of the elephant, slap him on the quarter, and
1 Previous to the death of the female the circumference of the fore foot. In
elephant in the Zoological Gardens, an African elephant killed by Sir S.
in the Regent’s Park, in 1851, Mr. Baker, this proportion did not hold
Mitchell, the Secretary, caused mea- good, as the circumference of the fore
surements to be accurately made, and foot was 4 feet 11J inches, and the
found the statement of the Singhalese height at the shoulder 10 feet 6£ in-
hunters to be strictly correct, the height ches. (Baker, The Albert Nyanza,
at the shoulders being precisely twice vol. ii. p. 10.)Panickeas.
99
convert his timidity into anger, till he turns upon his tor-
mentor and exposes his front to receive the bullet which
awaits him.1
So fearless and confident are they, that two men, with-
out aid or attendants, will boldly attempt to capture the
largest-sized elephant. Their only weapon is a flexible
rope made of deer’s or buffalo’s hide, with which it is
their object to secure one of the hind legs. This they
effect either by following in its footsteps when in motion
or by stealing close up to it when at rest, and availing
themselves of its well known propensity at such moments
to swing the feet backwards and forwards, they contrive
to slip a noose over the hind leg.
At other times this is achieved by spreading the noose
on the ground partially concealed by roots and leaves
beneath a tree on which one of the party is stationed,
whose business it is to lift it suddenly by means of a cord,
1 Major Skinner, the Chief Officer
at the head of the Commission of Roads,
in Ceylon, in writing to me, mentions an
anecdote illustrative of the daring of
the Panickeas. “ I once saw,” he says,
“ a very beautiful example of the con-
fidence with which these fellows, from
their knowledge of the elephants, meet
their worst defiance. 11 was in Neuera-
Kalawa; I was bivouacking on the
bank of a river, and had been kept out
so late that I did not get to my tent
until between 9 and 10 at night. On
our return towards it we passed several
single elephants making their way to
the nearest water, but at length we came
upon a large herd that had taken pos-
session of the only road by which we
could pass, and which no intimidation
would induce to move off. I had some
Panickeas with me; they knew the
H
herd, and counselled extreme caution.
After trying every device we could
think of for a length of time, a little old
Moorman of the party came to me and
requested we should all retire to a
distance. He then took a couple of
chules (flambeaux of dried wood, or
coco-nut leaves), one in each hand, and
waving them above his head till they
flamed out fiercely, he advanced at a
deliberate pace to within a few yards of
the elephant who was acting as leader
of the party, and who was growling
and trumpeting in his rage, and flour-
ished the flaming torches in his face.
The effect was instantaneous; the
whole herd dashed away in a panic,
bellowing, screaming, and crushing
through the underwood, whilst we avail-
ed ourselves of the open path to make
our way to our tents.”
2IOO
The Wild Elephant.
raising it on the elephant’s leg at the moment when his
companion has succeeded in provoking him to place his
foot within the circle, the other end having been pre-
viously made fast to the stem of the tree. Should the
noosing be effected in open ground, and no tree of suf-
ficient strength be at hand round which to wind the rope,
one of the Moors, allowing himself to be pursued by the
enraged elephant, entices him towards the nearest grove ;
where his companion, dexterously laying hold of the rope
as it trails along the ground, suddenly coils it round a
suitable stem, and brings the fugitive to a stand-still.
On finding himself thus arrested, the natural impulse of
the captive is to turn on the man who is engaged in
making fast the rope, a movement which it is the duty
of his colleague to prevent by running up close to the
elephant’s head and provoking the animal to confront
him by irritating gesticulations and taunting shouts of
dah! dahf a monosyllable, the sound of which the ele-
phant peculiarly dislikes. Meanwhile the first assailant,
having secured one noose, comes up from behind with
another, with which, amidst the vain rage and struggles
of the victim, he entraps a fore leg, the rope being, as
before, secured to another tree in front, and the whole
four feet having been thus entangled, the capture is
completed.
A shelter is then run up with branches, to protect the
captive from the sun, and the hunters proceed to build a
wigwam for themselves in front of him, kindling their
fires for cooking, and making all the necessary arrange-
ments for remaining day and night on the spot to await
the process of subduing and taming his rage. In myTaming process.	ioi
journeys through the forest I have come unexpectedly on
the halting place of adventurous hunters when thus en-
gaged ; and on one occasion, about sunrise, in ascending
the steep ridge from the bed of the Malwatte river, the
foremost rider of our party was suddenly driven back by
the trumpeting of a furious elephant, which we found
picketed by two Panickeas on the crest of the bank. In
such restraint, the elephant soon ceases to struggle ; and
what with the exhaustion of rage and resistance, the
terror of fire which he dreads, and the constant annoy-
ance of smoke which he detests, in a very short time, a
few weeks at the most, his spirit becomes subdued ; then
being plentifully supplied with plantains and fresh food,
and indulged with water, in which he luxuriates, he grows
so far reconciled to his keepers that they at length ven-
ture to remove him to their own village, and eventually
to the sea-side for shipment to India.
No part of the hunter’s performances exhibits greater
skill and audacity than this first forced march of the
recently captured elephant through the great central
forests to the sea-coast. As he is still too morose to
submit to be ridden, and it would be equally impossible
to lead or to drive him by force, the ingenuity of the
captors is displayed in alternately irritating and eluding
him, but always so attracting his attention as to allure
him along in the direction in which they want him to go.
Some assistance is derived from the rope by which the
original capture was effected, and which, as it serves to
make him safe at night, is never removed from the leg
till his taming is sufficiently advanced to permit of his
being entrusted with partial liberty.102
The Wild Elephant.
In Ceylon the principal place for exporting these ani-
mals to India is Manaar, on the western coast, to which
the Arabs from the continent resort, bringing with them
horses to be bartered for elephants. In order to reach
the sea, open plains must be traversed, across which it
requires the utmost courage, agility, and patience of the
Moors to coax their reluctant charge. At Manaar the
elephants are usually detained till any wound on the leg
caused by the rope has been healed, when the shipment
is effected in the most primitive manner. It being next
to impossible to induce the still untamed creature to walk
on board, and no mechanical contrivances being provided
to ship him, a dhoney, or native boat, of about forty
tons’ burthen, and about three parts filled with the strong
ribbed leaves of the Palmyra palm, is brought alongside
the quay in front of the Old Dutch Fort, and lashed so
that the gunwale may be as nearly as possible on a line
with the level of the wharf. The elephant being placed
with his back to the water is forced by goads to retreat
till his hind legs go over the side of the quay, but the
main contest commences when it is attempted to disen-
gage his fore feet from the shore, and force him to en-
trust himself on board. The scene becomes exciting
from the screams and trumpeting of the elephants, the
shouts of the Arabs, the calls of the Moors, and the
rushing of the crowd. Meanwhile the huge creature
strains every nerve to regain the land; and the day is
often consumed before his efforts are overcome, and he
finds himself fairly afloat. The same dhoney will take
from four to five elephants, who place themselves athwartExportation.	103
it, and exhibit amusing adroitness in accommodating
their movements to the rolling of the little vessel; and in
this way they are ferried across the narrow strait which
separates Ceylon from the continent of India.1
But the feat of ensnaring and subduing a single ele-
phant, courageous as it is, and demonstrative of the
supremacy with which man wields his “ dominion over
every beast of the earth,” falls far short of the daring
exploit of capturing a whole herd : when from thirty to
one hundred wild elephants are entrapped in one vast
decoy. The mode of effecting this, as it is practised in
Ceylon, is no doubt imitated, but with considerable
modification, from the methods prevalent in various
parts of India. It was introduced by the Portuguese,
and continued by the Dutch, the latter of whom had
two elephant hunts in each year, and conducted their
operations on so large a scale, that the annual export,
after supplying the Government establishments, was from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty elephants, taken
principally in the vicinity of Matura, in the southern pro-
vince, and marched for shipment to Manaar.2
1 In the Philosophical Transactions
for 1701, there is “An Account of the
taking of Elephants in Ceylon, by
Mr. Strackan, a Physician who lived
seventeen years there,” in which the
author describes the manner in which
they were shipped by the Dutch, at
Matura, Galle, and Negombo. A piece
of strong sail-cloth having been wrapped
round the elephant’s chest and stomach
he was forced into the sea between two
tame ones, and there made fast to a
boat. The tame ones then returned to
land, and he swam after the boat to the
ship, where tackle was reeved to the
sail-cloth, and he was hoisted on board.
“ But a better way has been invented
lately,” says Mr. Strachan; “ a large
flat-bottomed vessel is prepared, covered
with planks like a floor; so that this
floor is almost of a height with the key.
Then the sides of the key and the
vessel are adorned with green branches,
so that the elephant sees no water till
he is in the ship.” (Phil. Trans.
vol. xxiii. No. 227, p. 1051.)
2 Valentyn, Oud en Nietnv Oost-
Indien, ch. xv. p. 272.104	The Wild Elephant.
The custom in Bengal is to construct a strong en-
closure (called a keddah), in the heart of the forest, formed
of the trunks of trees firmly secured by transverse beams
and buttresses, and leaving a gate for the entrance of
the elephants. A second enclosure, opening from the
first, contains water (if possible a rivulet); this, again,
communicates with a third, which terminates in a funnel-
shaped passage, too narrow to admit of an elephant turn-
ing, and within this the captives being driven in line, are
secured with ropes introduced from the outside, and led
away in custody of tamed ones trained for the purpose.
The keddah being prepared, the first operation is to
drive the elephants towards it, for which purpose vast
bodies of men fetch a compass in the forest around the
haunts of the herds, contracting it by degrees till they
complete the enclosure of a certain area, round which
they kindle fires, and cut footpaths through the jungle, to
enable the watchers to communicate and combine. All
this is performed in cautious silence and by slow ap-
proaches, to avoid alarming the herd. A fresh circle
nearer to the keddah is then formed in the same way, and
into this the elephants are admitted from the first one,
the hunters following from behind, and lighting new fires
around the newly inclosed space. Day after day the pro-
cess is repeated ; till the drove having been brought suf-
ficiently close to make the final rush, the whole party
close in from all sides, and with drums, guns, shouts, and
flambeaux, force the terrified animals to enter the fatal
enclosure, when the passage is barred behind them, and
retreat rendered impossible.Corral.
105
Their efforts to escape are repressed by the crowd,
who drive them back from the stockade with spears
and flaming torches ; and at last compel them to pass
on into the second inclosure. Here they are detained
for a short time, and their feverish exhaustion relieved
by free access to water;—until at last, being tempted
by food, or otherwise induced to trust themselves in the
narrow outlet, they are one after another made fast by
ropes, passed in through the palisade ; and picketed in
the adjoining woods to enter on their course of syste-
matic training.
These arrangements vary in different districts of
Bengal; and the method adopted in Ceylon differs in
many essential particulars from them all; the keddah,
or, as it is here called, the corral or korahl1 (from the
Portuguese curral, a “ cattle-pen ”), consists of but one
enclosure instead of three. A stream or watering-place
is not uniformly enclosed within it, because, although
water is indispensable after the long thirst and ex-
haustion of the captives, it has been found that a pond
or rivulet within the corral itself adds to the difficulty
of leading them out, and increases their reluctance to
leave it; besides which, the smaller ones are often
smothered by the others in their eagerness to crowd into
the water. The funnel-shaped outlet is also dispensed
with, as the animals are liable to bruise and injure them-
selves within the narrow stockade; and should one of
them die in it, as is too often the case in the midst of
1 It is thus spelled by Wolf, in his in South America, and especially in
Life and Adventures, p. 144. Corral La Plata, to designate an enclosure fcr
is at the present day a household word cattle.106	The Wild Elephant.
the struggle, the difficulty of removing so great a carcase
is extreme. The noosing and securing them, therefore,
takes place in Ceylon within the area of the first en-
closure into which they enter, and the dexterity and
daring displayed in this portion of the work far surpasses
that of merely attaching the rope through the openings
of the paling, as in an Indian keddah.
One result of this change in the system is manifested
in the increased proportion of healthy elephants event-
ually secured and trained out of the number originally
enclosed. The reason of this is obvious : under the old
arrangements, months were consumed in the preparatory
steps of surrounding and driving in the herds, which at
last arrived so wasted by excitement and exhausted by
privation that numbers died within the corral itself, and
still more under the process of training. But in later
years the labour of months has been reduced to weeks,
and the elephants are driven in fresh and full of vigour,
so that comparatively few are lost either in the enclosure
or the stables. A conception of the whole operation
from commencement to end will be best conveyed by
describing the progress of an elephant corral as I wit-
nessed it in 1847 in the great forest on the banks of the
Alligator River, the Kimbul-oya, in the district of Korne-
galle, about thirty miles north-west of Kandy.
Kornegalle, or Kurunai-galle, was one of the ancient
capitals of the island, and the residence of its kings
from a. d. 1319 to 1347.1 The dwelling-house of the
principal civil officer in charge of the district now
See Sir J. Emerson Tennent’s Ceylon, vol. I. pt. 111. ch. xii. p. 415.Aetagalla.	107
occupies the site of the former palace, and the ground
is strewn with fragments of columns and carved stones,
the remnants of the royal buildings. The modem town
consists of the bungalows of the European officials, each
surrounded with its own garden; two or three streets
inhabited by Dutch descendents and by Moors; and a
native bazaar, with the ordinary array of rice and curry
stuffs and cooking chattees of brass or burnt clay.
The charm of the village is the unusual beauty of its
position. It rests within the shade of an enormous rock
of gneiss upwards of 600 feet in height, nearly denuded
of verdure, and so rounded and worn by time that it has
acquired the form of a couchant elephant, from which it
derives its name of Aetagalla, the Rock of the Tusker.1
But Aetagalla is only the last eminence in a range of
similarly-formed rocky mountains, which here terminate
abruptly; and which, from the fantastic shapes into
which their gigantic outlines have been wrought by the
action of the atmosphere, are called by the names of the
Tortoise Rock, the Eel Rock, and the Rock of the
Tusked Elephant. So impressed are the Singhalese by
the aspect of these stupendous masses that in ancient
grants lands are conveyed in perpetuity, or “ so long as
the sun and the moon, so long as Aetagalla and Anda-
galla shall endure.”2
1 Another enormous mass of gneiss 2 Forbes quotes a Tamil conveyance
is called the Kuruminiagalla, or the of land, the purchaser of which is to
Beetle-rock, from its resemblance in “ possess and enjoy it as long as the
shape to the back of that insect, and sun and the moon, the earth and its
hence is said to have been derived the vegetables, the mountains and the
name of the town, Kuruna-gaUe or River Cauvery exist.” (Oriental Me-
Kome-galle.	moirs, vol. ii. chap. ii.) It will not failio8	The Wild Elephant
Komegalle is the resort of Buddhists from the re-
motest parts of the island, who come to visit an ancient
temple on the summit of the great rock, to which access
is had from the valley below by means of steep paths
and steps hewn out of the solid stone. Here the chief
object of veneration is a copy of the sacred footstep
hollowed in the granite, similar to that which confers
sanctity on Adam’s Peak, the towering apex of which,
about forty miles distant, the pilgrims can discern from
Aetagalla.
At times the heat at Komegalle is intense, in conse-
quence of the perpetual glow diffused from these granite
cliffs. The warmth they acquire during the blaze of
noon becomes almost intolerable towards evening, and
the sultry night is too short to permit the rocks to cool
between the setting and the rising of the sun. The
district is also liable to occasional droughts when the
watercourses fail, and the tanks become dry. One of
these calamities occurred about the period of my visit,
and such was the suffering of the wild animals that
numbers of crocodiles and bears made their way into the
town to drink at the wells. The soil is prolific in the
extreme; rice, cotton, and dry grain are cultivated
largely in the valley. Every cottage is surrounded by
gardens of cocoa-nuts, arecas, jak-fruit and coffee; the
slopes, under tillage, are covered with luxuriant vege-
tation, and, as far as the eye can reach on every side,
to be observed, that the same figure thee, so long as the sun and moon
was employed in Hebrew literature as endure; throughout all generations.”
a type of duration—“They shall fear (Psalm Ixxii. 5, 17.)Kornegalla.	109
there are dense forests intersected by streams, in the
shade of which the deer and the elephant abound.
In 1847 arrangements were made for one of the great
elephant hunts for the supply of the Civil Engineer’s
Department, and the spot fixed on by Mr. Morris, the
Government officer who conducted the corral, was on
the banks of the Kimbul river, about fifteen miles from
Komegalle. The country over which we rode to the
scene of the approaching capture showed traces of the
recent drought, the fields lay to a great extent untilled,
owing to the want of water, and the tanks, almost re-
duced to dryness, were covered with the leaves of the
rose-coloured lotus.
Our cavalcade was as oriental as the scenery through
which it moved; the Governor and the officers of his
staff and household formed a long cortege, escorted by
the native attendants, horse-keepers, and foot-runners.
The ladies were borne in palankins, and the younger
individuals of the party carried in chairs raised on poles,
and covered with cool green awnings made of the fresh
leaves of the talipat palm.
After traversing the cultivated lands, the path led
across open glades of park-like verdure and beauty, and
at last entered the great forest under the shade of ancient
trees wreathed to their crowns with climbing plants and
festooned by natural garlands of convolvulus and orchids.
Here silence reigned, disturbed only by the murmuring
hum of glittering insects, or the shrill clamour of the
plum-headed parroquet and the flute-like calls of the
golden oriole.I IO
The Wild Elephant.
We crossed the broad sandy beds of two rivers over-
arched by tall trees, the most conspicuous of which is
the kombook,1 from the calcined bark of which the
natives extract a species of lime to be used with their
betel. And from the branches hung suspended over the
water the gigantic pods of the huge puswael bean,2 the
sheath of which measures six feet long by five or six
inches broad.
On ascending the steep bank of the second stream,
we found ourselves in front of the residences which had
been extemporised for our party in the immediate
vicinity of the corral. These cool and enjoyable struc-
tures were formed of branches and thatched with palm
leaves and fragrant lemon grass ; and in addition to a
dining-room and suites of bedrooms fitted with tent
furniture, they included kitchens, stables, and store-
rooms, all run up by the natives in the course of a few
days.
In former times, the work connected with these ele-
phant hunts was performed by the “forced labour” of
the natives, as part of that feudal service which under
the name of “ raja-kariya ” was extorted from the Sin-
ghalese during the rule of their native sovereigns. This
system was continued by the Portuguese and Dutch, and
prevailed under the British Government till its abolition
by the Earl of Ripon in 1832. Under it from fifteen
hundred to two thousand men under the orders of their
headmen, used to be occupied, in constructing the corral,
driving in the elephants, maintaining the cordon of
Pentapiera paniculata.
2 Entada purscetha.J11
Period of the year.
watch-fires and watchers, and conducting all the labo-
rious operations of the capture. Since the abolition of
raja-kariya, however, no difficulty has been found in
obtaining the voluntary co-operation of the natives on
these exciting occasions. The Government defrays the
expense of that portion of the preparations which in-
volves actual cost, such as the skilled labour expended
in the erection of the corral and its appurtenances,
and the providing of spears, ropes, arms, flutes, drums,
gunpowder, and other necessaries for the occasion.
The period of the year selected is that which least
interferes with the cultivation of the rice-lands (in the
interval between seed time and harvest), and the people
themselves, in addition to the enjoyment of the sport,
have a personal interest in reducing the number of ele-
phants, which inflict serious injury on their gardens and
growing crops. For a similar reason the priests en-
courage the practice, because the elephants destroy
their sacred Bo-trees, of the leaves of which they are
passionately fond; besides which it promotes the faci-
lity for obtaining elephants for the processions of the
temples : and the Rate-mahat-meyas and headmen have
a pride in exhibiting the number of retainers who
follow them to the field, and the performances of their
tame elephants which they lend for the business of
the corral. Thus vast numbers of the peasantry are
voluntarily occupied for many weeks in putting up
the stockades, cutting paths through the jungle, and
relieving the beaters engaged in surrounding and driving
in the elephants.I 12
The Wild Elephant,
In selecting the scene for an elephant hunt a position is
chosen which lies on some old and frequented route of
»4OoooOf>Q0 0500000 000.
0000050000000000 0000 I
GROUND PLAN OF A CORRAL.
the animals, in their periodical migrations in search of
forage and water; and the vicinity of a stream is indis-
pensable, not only for the supply of the elephants dur-
ing the time spent in inducing them to approach theMode of construction.	113
enclosure, but to enable them to bathe and cool them-
selves throughout the process of training after capture.
In constructing the corral itself, care is taken to avoid
disturbing the trees or the brushwood within the included
space, and especially on the side by which the elephants
are to approach, where it is essential to conceal the
stockade as much as possible by the density of the
foliage. The trees used in the structure are from ten to
twelve inches in diameter; and are sunk about three feet
in the earth, so as to leave a length of from twelve to
fifteen feet above ground; with spaces between each
stanchion sufficiently wide to permit a man to glide
through. The uprights are made fast by transverse
beams, to which they are lashed securely by ratans and
flexible climbing plants, or as they are called “jungle
ropes,” and the whole is steadied by means of forked
supports, which grasp the tie beams, and prevent the
work from being driven outward by the rush of the wild
elephants.
On the occasion I am now attempting to describe, the
space thus enclosed was about 500 feet in length by 250
wide. At one end an entrance was left open, fitted with
sliding bars, so prepared as to be capable of being in-
stantly shut; and from each angle of the end by which
the elephants were to approach, two lines of the same
strong fencing were continued, and cautiously concealed
by the trees; so that if, instead of entering by the open
passage, the herd should swerve to right or left, they
would find themselves suddenly stopped and forced to
retrace their course to the gate.
1114	The Wild Elephant.
The preparations were completed by placing a stage
for the Governor’s party on a group of the nearest trees
looking down into the enclosure, so that a view could be
had of the entire proceeding, from the entrance of the
herd, to the leading out of the captive elephants.
It is hardly necessary to observe that the structure here
described, massive as it is, would be entirely ineffectual
to resist the shock, if assaulted by the full force of an
enraged elephant; and accidents have sometimes hap-
pened by the breaking through of the herd; but reliance
is placed not so much on the resistance of the stockade
as on the timidity of the captives and their unconscious-
ness of their own strength, coupled with the daring of
their captors and their devices for ensuring submission.
The corral being prepared, the beaters address them-
selves to drive in the elephants. For this purpose it is
often necessary to fetch a circuit of many miles in order
to surround a sufficient number, and the caution to be
observed involves patience and delay; as it is essential
to avoid alarming the animals, which might otherwise
escape. Their disposition being essentially peaceful, and
their only impulse to browse in solitude and security,
they withdraw instinctively before the slightest intrusion,
and advantage is taken of this timidity and love of seclu-
sion to cause only just such an amount of disturbance
as will induce them to retire slowly in the direction which
it is desired they should take. Several herds are by this
means concentrated vrithin such an area as will admit of
their being completely surrounded by the watchers; and
day after day, by slow degrees, they are moved graduallyThe Drive.
”5
onwards towards the immediate confines of the corral.
When their suspicions become awakened and they exhibit
restlessness and alarm, bolder measures are adopted for
preventing their escape. Fires are kept burning at ten
paces apart, night and day, along the circumference of
the area within which they are detained; a corps of from
two to three thousand beaters is completed, and pathways
are carefully cleared through the jungle so as to keep
open a communication along the entire circuit. The
headmen keep up a constant patrol, to see that their
followers are alert at their posts, since neglect at any one
spot might permit the escape of the herd, and undo in a
moment the vigilance of weeks. By this means any at-
tempt of the elephants to break away is generally checked,
and on any point threatened a sufficient force can be
promptly assembled to drive them back. At last the
elephants are forced onwards so close to the enclosure,
that the investing cordon is united at either end with the
wings of the corral, the whole forming a circuit of about
two miles, within which the herd is detained to await the
signal for the final drive.
Two months had been spent in these preliminaries, and
the preparations had been thus far completed, on the day
when we arrived and took our places on the covered
stand erected for us, overlooking the entrance to the
corral. Close beneath us a group of tame elephants
sent by the temples and the chiefs to assist in securing
the wild ones, were picketed in the shade, and lazily
fanning themselves with leaves. Three distinct herds,
whose united numbers were variously represented at from116	The Wild Elephant.
forty to fifty elephants, were enclosed, and were at that
moment concealed in the jungle within a short distance
of the stockade. Not a sound was permitted to be made,
each person spoke to his neighbour in whispers, and such
was the silence observed by the multitude of the watchers
at their posts, that occasionally we could hear the rust-
ling of the branches as some of the elephants stripped
off a leaf.
Suddenly the signal was made, and the stillness of the
forest was broken by the shouts of the guard, the rolling
of the drums and tom-toms, and the discharge of muskets ;
and beginning at the most distant side of the area, the
elephants were hurried forward at a rapid pace towards
the entrance into the corral.
The watchers along the line kept silence only till the
herd had passed them, and then joining the riot in their
rear they drove them onward with redoubled shouts and
deafening noises. The tumult increased as the terrified
rout drew near, swelling now on one side now on the
other, as the herd in their panic dashed from point to
point in their endeavours to force the line, and the crowd
of watchers drove them back with screams, discharges of
muskets, and the discordant roar of drums.
At length the breaking of the branches and the crack-
ling of the brushwood announced their close approach,
and the leader bursting from the jungle rushed wildly
forward to within twenty yards of the entrance, followed
by the rest of the herd. Another moment and they
would have plunged into the open gate, when suddenly
they wheeled round, re-entered the forest, and in spite ofEvening Scene.	117
the hunters resumed their original position. The chief
headman came forward and accounted for the freak by
saying that a wild pig,1 an animal which the elephants are
said to dislike, had started out of the cover and run
across the leader, who would otherwise have held on
direct for the corral; and intimated that as the herd was
now in the highest pitch of excitement; and it was at all
times much more difficult to effect a successful capture by
daylight than by night, when the fires and flambeaux act
with double effect, it was the wish of the hunters to defer
their final effort till the evening, when the darkness would
greatly aid their exertions.
After sunset the scene exhibited was of extraordinary
interest; the low fires, which had apparently only smoul-
dered in the sunlight, assumed their ruddy glow amidst
the darkness, and threw their tinge over the groups col-
lected round them; while the smoke rose in eddies
through the rich foliage of the trees. The crowds of
spectators maintained a profound silence, and not a sound
was perceptible louder than the hum of an insect On
a sudden the stillness was broken by the distant roll of a
drum, followed by a discharge of musketry. This was
the signal for the renewal of the assault, and the hunters
entered the circle with yells and clamour; dry leaves and
sticks were flung upon the watch-fires till they blazed
aloft, and formed a line of flame on every side, except in
1 Fire, the sound of a horn, and the
grunting of a boar are the three things
which the Greeks, in the middle ages,
believed the elephant specially to
dislike:
ni)p Se TTToeiTat. teal Kpibv K€pa<r<f)6poi>,
Kal rwv hovlu)V tt\v fioyv rqv aOpoav.
Phile, Expos it io de E lephante,
1. 177.118	The Wild Elephant
the direction of the corral, which was studiously kept
dark; and thither the terrified elephants betook them-
selves, followed by the shouts and racket of their pur-
suers.
The elephants came on at a rapid pace, trampling
down the brushwood and crushing the dry branches; the
leader emerged in front of the corral, paused for an
instant, stared wildly round, and then rushed madly
through the open gate, followed by the rest of the herd.
Instantly, as if by magic, the entire circuit of the corral,
which up to this moment had been kept in profound
darkness, blazed with thousands of lights, every hunter,
on the instant that the elephants entered, rushing for-
ward to the stockade with a torch kindled at the nearest
watch-fire.
The elephants first dashed to the very extremity of the
enclosure, and being brought up by the fence, retreated
to regain the gate, but found it closed. Their terror was
sublime : they hurried round the corral at a rapid pace,
but saw it now girt by fire on every side ; they attempted
to force the stockade, but were driven back by the guards
with spears and flambeaux ; and on whichever side they
approached they were repulsed with shouts and volleys of
musketry. Collecting into one group, they would pause
for a moment in apparent bewilderment, then burst off in
another direction, as if it had suddenly occurred to them
to try some point which they had before overlooked; but,
again baffled, they slowly returned to their forlorn resting-
place in the centre of the corral.
The attraction of this strange scene was not confinedVain Assaults.
119
to the spectators; it extended to the tame elephants
which were stationed outside. At the first approach of
the flying herd they evinced the utmost interest. Two in
particular which were picketed near the front were in-
tensely excited, and continued tossing their heads, pawing
the ground, and starting as the noise drew near. At
length, when the grand rush into the corral took place,
one of them fairly burst from her fastenings and rushed
towards the herd, levelling a tree of considerable size
which obstructed her passage.1
For upwards of an hour the elephants continued to
traverse the corral and assail the palisade with unabated
energy, trumpeting and screaming with rage after each
disappointment. Again and again they attempted to
force the gate, as if aware, by experience, that it ought
to afford an exit as it had already served as an entrance,
but they shrank back stunned and bewildered. By de-
grees their efforts became less and less frequent. Single
ones rushed excitedly here and there, returning sullenly
to their companions after each effort; and at last the
whole herd, stupefied and exhausted, formed themselves
into a single group, drawn up in a circle with the young
in the centre, and stood motionless under the dark shade
of the trees in the middle of the corral.
1 The other elephant, a fine tusker, days after the Aratchy went in search
which belonged to Dehigam Rate- of it with a female decoy, and watching
mahat-meya, continued in extreme ex- its approach, sprang fairly on the in-
citement throughout all the subsequent furiated beast, with a pair of sharp
operations of the capture, and at last, hooks in his hands, which he pressed
after attempting to break its way into into tender parts in front of the shoulder,
the corral, shaking the bars with its and thus held the elephant firmly till
forehead and tusks, it went off in a chains were passed over its legs, and it
state of frenzy into the jungle. A few permitted itself to be led quietly away.120
The Wild Elephant
Preparations were now made to keep watch during the
night, the guard was reinforced around the enclosure, and
wood heaped on the fires to keep up a high flame till
sunrise.
Three herds had been originally entrapped by the
beaters outside ; but with characteristic instinct they had
each kept clear of the other, taking up different stations
in the space invested by the watchers. When the final
drive took place one herd only had entered the enclosure,
the other two keeping behind; and as the gate had to be
instantly shut on the first division, the last were unavoid-
ably excluded and remained concealed in the jungle.
To prevent their escape, the watchers were ordered to
their former stations, the fires were replenished; and all
precautions having been taken, we returned to pass the
night in our bungalows by the river.I 21
CHAPTER II.
THE CAPTIVES.
As our sleeping-place was not above two hundred yards
from the corral, we were awakened frequently during the
night by the din of the multitude who were bivouacking
in the forest, by the merriment round the watch-fires, and
now and then by the shouts with which the guards re-
pulsed some sudden charge of the elephants in attempts
to force the stockade. But at daybreak, on going down
to the corral, we found all still and vigilant The fires
were allowed to die out as the sun rose, and the watchers
who had been relieved were sleeping near the great fence,
the enclosure on all sides being surrounded by crowds of
men and boys with spears or white peeled wands about
ten feet long, whilst the elephants within were huddled
together in a compact group, no longer turbulent and
restless, but exhausted and calm, and utterly subdued by
apprehension and amazement at all that had been passing
around them.
Nine only had been as yet entrapped,1 of which three
1 In some of the elephant hunts con- which a portion only were taken out
ducted in the southern provinces of for the public service, and the rest
Ceylon by the earlier British Gover- shot, the motive being to rid the neigh-
nors, as many as 170 and 200 elephants bourhood of them, and thus protect
were secured in a single corral, of the crops from destruction. On the122	The Wild Elephant.
were very large, and two were little creatures but a few
months old. One of the large ones was a “ rogue,” and
being unacknowledged by the rest of the herd, he was
not admitted to their circle, although permitted to stand
near them.
Meanwhile, preparations were making outside to con-
duct the tame elephants into the corral, in order to
secure the captives. Noosed ropes were in readiness;
and far apart from all stood a party of the out-caste
Rodiyas, the only tribe who will touch a dead carcase,
to whom, therefore, the duty is assigned of preparing
the fine flexible rope for noosing, which is made from
the fresh hides of the deer and the buffalo.
At length, the bars which secured the entrance to
the corral were cautiously withdrawn, and two trained
elephants passed stealthily in, each ridden by its mahout
(or ponnekella, as the keeper is termed in Ceylon), and
one attendant; and carrying a strong collar, formed
by coils of rope made from coco-nut fibre, from which
hung on either side cords of elk’s hide, prepared with
a ready noose. Along with these, and concealed behind
them, the headmen of the “cooroowe” or noosers,
crept in, eager to secure the honour of taking the first
elephant, a distinction which this class jealously contests
with the mahouts of the chiefs and temples. He was a
wiry little man, nearly seventy years old, who had served
in the same capacity under the last Kandyan king, and
he wore two silver bangles, which had been conferred
occasion here described, the object was not sought to entrap more than
being to secure only as many as were could conveniently be attended to and
required for the Government stud, it trained after capture.The Tame Ones.
123
on him in testimony of his prowess. He was accom-
panied by his son, named Ranghani, equally renowned
for his courage and dexterity.
On this occasion ten tame elephants were in attend-
ance ; two were the property of an adjoining temple
(one of which had been caught but the year before,
yet it was now ready to assist in capturing others), four
belonged to the neighbouring chiefs, and the rest, in-
cluding the two which first entered the corral, were part
of the Government stud. Of the latter, one was of
great age, having been in the service of the Dutch
and English Governments in succession for upwards ot
a century.1 The other, called by her keeper “ Siribeddi,”
was about fifty years old, and distinguished for gentle-
ness and docility. She was a most accomplished decoy,
and evinced the utmost relish for the sport. Having
entered the corral noiselessly, carrying a mahout on her
shoulders with the headman of the noosers seated behind
him, she moved slowly along with a sly composure and
an assumed air of easy indifference; sauntering leisurely
in the direction of the captives, and halting now and then
to pluck a bunch of grass or a few leaves as she passed.
As she approached the herd, they put themselves in
motion to meet her, and the leader, having advanced in
front and passed his trunk gently over her head, turned
and paced slowly back to his dejected companions.
Siribeddi followed with the same listless step, and drew
herself up close behind him, thus affording the nooser
1 This elephant is since dead; she in the Museum of the Natural History
grew infirm and diseased, and died at Society at Belfast.
Colombo in 1848. Her skeleton is nowi.24	7>4* Wild Elephant.
an opportunity to stoop under her and slip the noose
over the hind foot of the wild one. The latter instantly
' perceived his danger, shook off the rope, and turned to
attack the man. He would have suffered for his temerity
had not Siribeddi protected him by raising her trunk and
driving the assailant into the midst of the herd, when the
old man, being slightly wounded, was helped out of the
corral, and his son, Ranghani, took his place.
The herd again collected in a circle, with their heads
towards the centre. The largest male was singled out,
and two tame ones pushed boldly in, one on either side
of him, till the three stood nearly abreast. He made
no resistance, but betrayed his uneasiness by shifting
restlessly from foot to foot. Ranghani now crept up,
and, holding the rope open with both hands (its other
extremity being made fast to Siribeddi’s collar), and
watching the instant when the wild elephant lifted its
hind-foot, succeeded in passing the noose over its leg,
drew it close, and fled to the rear. The two tame
elephants instantly fell back, Siribeddi stretched the
rope to its full length, and, whilst she dragged out the
captive, her companion placed himself between her and
the herd to prevent any interference.
In order to tie him to a tree he had to be drawn
backwards some twenty or thirty yards, making furious
resistance, bellowing in terror, plunging on all sides, and
crushing the smaller timber, which bent like reeds be-
neath his clumsy struggles. Siribeddi drew him steadily
after her, and wound the rope round the proper tree,
holding it all the time at its full tension, and steppingNOOSING WILD ELEPHANTS.Siribeddi.
125
cautiously across it when, in order to give it a second
turn, it was necessary to pass between the tree and
the elephant. With a coil round the stem, however, it
was beyond her strength to haul the prisoner close up,
which was, nevertheless, necessary in order to make
him perfectly fast; but the second tame one, perceiving
the difficulty, returned from the herd, confronted the
struggling prisoner, pushed him shoulder to shoulder,
and head to head, forcing him backwards, whilst at
every step Siribeddi hauled in the slackened rope till she
brought him fairly up to the foot of the tree, where he
was made fast by the cooroowe people. A second noose
was then passed over the other hind-leg, and secured
like the first, both legs being afterwards hobbled to-
gether by ropes made froni the fibre of the kitool or
jaggery palm, which, being more flexible than that of
the coco nut, occasions less formidable ulcerations. The
two decoys then ranged themselves, as before, abreast
of the prisoner on either side, thus enabling Ranghani
to stoop under them and noose the two fore-feet as he
had already done the hind; and these ropes being made
fast to a tree in front, the capture was complete, and
the tame elephants and keepers withdrew to repeat the
operation on another of the herd.
As long as the tame ones stood beside him the poor
animal remained comparatively calm and almost passive
under his distress, but the moment they moved off,
and he was left utterly alone, he made the most sur-
prising efforts to set himself free and rejoin his com-
panions. He felt the ropes with his trunk and tried126	The Wild Elephant.
to untie the numerous knots; he drew backwards to
liberate his fore-legs, then leaned forward to extricate
the hind ones, till every branch of the tall tree quivered
with his struggles. He screamed in anguish, with his
proboscis raised high in air, then falling on his side he
laid his head to the ground, first his cheek and then his
brow, and pressed down his doubled-in trunk as though
he would force it into the earth ; then suddenly rising
he balanced himself on his forehead and fore-legs, hold-
ing his hind-feet fairly off the ground. This scene of
distress continued some hours, with occasional pauses of
apparent stupor, after which the struggle was from timeLargesse.	127
to time renewed convulsively, and as if by some sudden
impulse; but at last the vain strife subsided, and the
poor animal remained perfectly motionless, the image
of exhaustion and despair.
Meanwhile Ranghani presented himself in front of
the Governor’s stage to claim the accustomed largesse
for tying the first elephant. He was rewarded by a
shower of rupees, and retired to resume his perilous
duties in the corral.
The rest of the herd were now in a state of pitiable
dejection, and pressed closely together as if under a
sense of common misfortune. For the most part they
stood at rest in a compact body, fretful and uneasy.
At intervals one more impatient than the rest would
move out a few steps to reconnoitre; the others would128
The Wild Elephant
follow at first slowly, then at a quicker pace, and at last
the whole herd would rush off furiously to renew the
often-baffled attempt to storm the stockade.
There was a strange combination of the sublime and
the ridiculous in these abortive onsets; the appearance
of prodigious power in their ponderous limbs, coupled
with the almost ludicrous shuffle of their clumsy gait,
and the fury of their apparently resistless charge, con-
verted in an instant into timid retreat. They rushed
madly down the enclosure, their backs arched, their
tails extended, their ears spread, and their trunks raised
high above their heads, trumpeting and uttering shrill
screams, yet when one step further would have dashed
the opposing fence into fragments, they stopped short
on a few white rods being pointed at them through the
paling;1 and, on catching the derisive shouts of the
crowd, they turned in utter discomfiture, and after an
objectless circle through the corral, they paced slowly
back to their melancholy halting-place in the shade.
The crowd, chiefly comprised of young men and boys,
exhibited astonishing nerve and composure at such
moments, rushing up to the point towards which the
elephants charged, pointing their wands at their trunks,
and keeping up the continual cry of whoop! whoop!
which invariably turned them to flight.
1 The fact of the elephant exhibiting into the circus during the triumph o<
timidity, on having a long rod pointed	Metellus, after the conquest of the
towards him, was known to the Ro-	Carthaginians in Sicily, and driven
mans; and Pliny, quoting from the round the area by workmen holding
annals of Piso, relates, that in order to blunted spears,—“ Ab operariis hastas
inculcate contempt for want of courage praepilatas habentibus, per circum totum
in the elephant, they were introduced actos.” (Nat. Hist. lib. viii. c. 6.)Noosing,	129
The second victim singled out from the herd was
secured in the same manner as the first. It was a
female. The tame ones forced themselves in on either
side as before, cutting her off from her companions,
whilst Ranghani stooped under them to attach the
fatal noose, and Siribeddi dragged her out amidst un-
availing struggles, when she was made fast by each leg
to the nearest group of strong trees. When the noose
was placed upon her fore-foot, she seized it with her
trunk and succeeded in carrying it to her mouth, where
she would speedily have severed it had not a tame ele-
phant interfered, and placing his foot on the rope
pressed it downwards out of her jaws. The individuals
who acted as leaders in the successive charges on the
palisades were always those selected by the noosers, and
the operation of tying each, from the first approaches of
the decoys, till the captive was left alone by the tree,
occupied on an average somewhat less than three-
quarters of an hour.
It is strange that in these encounters the wild ele-
phants made no attempt to attack or dislodge the mahouts
or the cooroowes, who rode on the tame ones. They
moved in the very midst of the herd, any individual in
which could in a moment have pulled the riders from
their seats ; but no attempt was made to molest them.1
As one after another their leaders were entrapped and
1 “In a corral, to be on a tame Adigar’s head was on a level with the
elephant, seems to insure perfect immu- back of the wild animals : I felt very
nity from the attacks of the wild ones, nervous, but he rode right in among
I once saw the old chief Mollegodde them, and received not the slightest
ride in amongst a herd of wild elephants, molestation. ”—Letter from Major
on a small elephant; so small that the Skinner.
K130	The Wild Elephant.
forced away from them, the remainder of the group
evinced increased emotion and excitement; but what-
ever may have been their sympathy for their lost com-
panions, their alarm seemed to prevent them at first
from following them to the trees to which they had
been tied. In passing them afterwards they sometimes
stopped, mutually entwined their trunks, lapped them
■ round each other’s limbs and neck, and exhibited theDistress.
131
most touching distress at their detention, but made no
attempt to disturb the cords that bound them.
The variety of disposition in the herd as evidenced
by difference of demeanour was very remarkable : some
submitted with comparatively little resistance; whilst
others in their fury dashed themselves on the ground with
a force sufficient to destroy any weaker animal. They
vented their rage upon every tree and plant within reach ;
if small enough to be torn down, they levelled them with
their trunks, and stripping them of their leaves and
branches, tossed them wildly over their heads on all
sides. Some in their struggles made no noise, whilst
others bellowed and trumpeted furiously, then uttered
short convulsive screams, and at last, exhausted and
hopeless, gave vent to their anguish in low and piteous
moanings. Some, after a few violent efforts of this kind,
lay motionless on the ground, with no other indication of
suffering than the tears which suffused their eyes and
flowed incessantly. Others in all the vigour of their rage
exhibited the most surprising contortions; and to us who
had been accustomed to associate with the unwieldy bulk
of the elephant the idea that he must of necessity be
stiff and inflexible, the attitudes into which they forced
themselves were scarcely credible. I saw*one lie with
the cheek pressed to the earth, and the fore-legs stretched
in front, whilst the body was twisted round till the hind
legs extended in the opposite direction.
It was astonishing that their trunks were not wounded
by the violence with which they flung them on all sides.
One twisted his proboscis into such fantastic shapes, that132
The Wild Elephant.
it resembled the writhings of a gigantic worm; he coiled
it and uncoiled it with restless rapidity, suddenly unfold-
ing it to its full length, and coiling it up again like a
watch-spring. Another, which lay otherwise motionless
in all the stupor of hopeless anguish, slowly beat the
ground with the extremity of his trunk, as a man in
despair beats his knee with the palm of his hand.
They displayed an amount of sensitiveness and deli-
cacy of touch in the foot, which was very remarkable in
a limb of such clumsy dimensions and protected by so
thick a covering. The noosers could always force them
to lift it from the ground by the gentlest touch of a leaf
or twig, apparently applied so as to tickle ; but the im-
position of the rope was instantaneously perceived, and
if it could not be reached by the trunk the other footSensitiveness.
133
was applied to feel its position, and if possible remove it
before the noose could be drawn tight.
One practice was incessant with almost the entire
herd : in the intervals between their struggles they beat
the ground with their fore-feet, and taking up the dry
earth in a coil of the trunk, they flung it dexterously over
every part of their body. Even when lying down the
sand within reach was thus collected and scattered over
their limbs; then inserting the extremity of the trunk in
their mouths, they withdrew a quantity of water, which
they discharged over their backs, repeating the operation
again and again, till the dust was thoroughly saturated.
I was astonished at the quantity of water thus applied,
which was sufficient when the elephant, as was generally
the case, had worked the spot where he lay into a hollow,
to convert its surface into a coating of mud. Seeing that
the herd had been now twenty-four hours without access
to water of any kind, surrounded by watch-fires, and ex-
hausted by struggling and terror, the supply of moisture
an elephant is capable of containing in the receptacle at-
tached to his stomach must be very considerable.
The conduct of the tame ones during all these pro-
ceedings was truly wonderful. They displayed the most
perfect conception of every movement, both of the object
to be attained, and of the means to accomplish it. They
manifested the utmost enjoyment in what was going on.
There was no ill-humour, no malignity in the spirit dis-
played, in what was otherwise a heartless proceeding, but
they set about it in a way that showed a thorough relish
for it, as an agreeable pastime. Their caution was as134	7%^ Wild Elephant.
remarkable as their sagacity; there was no hurrying, no
confusion, they never ran foul of the ropes, were never in
the way of the animals already noosed ; and amidst the
most violent struggles, when the tame ones had frequently
to step across the captives, they in no instance trampled
on them, or occasioned the slightest accident or annoy-
ance. So far from this, they saw intuitively a difficulty
or a danger, and addressed themselves unbidden to
remove it. In tying up one of the larger elephants, he
contrived before he could be hauled close up to the tree,
to walk once or twice round it, carrying the rope with
him ; the decoy, perceiving the advantage he had thus
gained over the nooser, walked up of her own accord,
and pushed him backwards with her head, till she made
him unwind himself again ; upon which the rope was
hauled tight and made fast. More than once, when a
wild one was extending his trunk, and would have inter-
cepted the rope about to be placed over his leg, Siribeddi,
by a sudden motion of her own trunk, pushed his aside,
and prevented him; and on one occasion, when succes-
sive efforts had failed to put the noose over the fore-leg of
an elephant which was already secured by one foot, but
which wisely put the other to the ground as often as it
was attempted to pass the noose under it, I saw the
decoy watch her opportunity, and when his foot was again
raised, suddenly push in her own leg beneath it, and
hold it up till the noose was attached and drawn tight.
One could almost fancy there was a display of dry
humour in the manner in which the decoys thus played
with the fears of the wild herd, and made light of theirATTITUDES OF CAPTURED ELEPHANTS.Decoys	135
efforts at resistance. When reluctant they shoved them
forward, when violent they drove them back ; when the
wild ones threw themselves down, the tame ones butted
them with head and shoulders, and forced them up again.
And when it was necessary to keep them down, they
knelt upon them, and prevented them from rising, till the
ropes were secured.
At every moment of leisure they fanned themselves
with a bunch of leaves, and the graceful ease with which
an elephant uses his trunk on such occasions is very
striking. It is doubtless owing to the combination of a
circular with a horizontal movement in that flexible limb ;136	The Wild Elephant.
but it is impossible to see an elephant fanning himself
without being struck by the singular elegance of motion
which he displays. The tame ones, too, indulged in the
luxury of dusting themselves with sand, by flinging it
from their trunks; but it was a curious illustration of
their delicate sagacity, that so long as the mahout was on
their necks, they confined themselves to flinging the dust
along their sides and stomach, as if aware, that to throw
it over their heads and back would cause annoyance to
their riders.
One of the decoys which rendered good service, and
was obviously held in special awe by the wild herd, was a
tusker belonging to Dehigame Rate-mahat-meya. It was
not that he used his tusks for purposes of offence, but he
was enabled to insinuate himself between two elephants
by wedging them in where he could not force his head;
besides which they assisted him in raising up the fallen
and refractory with greater ease. In some instances
where the intervention of the other decoys failed to
reduce a wild one to order, the mere presence and
approach of the tusker seemed to inspire fear, and insure
submission, without more active intervention.
I do nbt know whether it was the surprising qualities
exhibited by the tame elephants that cast the courage
and dexterity of the men into the shade, but even when
supported by the presence, the sagacity, and co-operation
of these wonderful creatures, the part sustained by the
noosers can bear no comparison with the address and
daring displayed by the picador and matador in a Spanish
bull-fight. They certainly possessed great quickness ofi37
Young Elephants.
eye in watching the slightest movement of the elephant,
and great expertness in flinging the noose over its foot
and attaching it firmly before the animal could tear it off
with its trunk; but in all this they had the cover of the
decoys to conceal them ; and their shelter behind which
to retreat. Apart from the services which, from their
prodigious strength, the tame elephants alone are capable
of rendering, in dragging out and securing the captives,
it is perfectly obvious that without their co-operation the
utmost prowess and dexterity of the hunters would not
avail nor embolden them, unsupported, to enter the corral
and ensnare and lead out a single captive.
Of the two tiny elephants which were entrapped, one
was about ten months old, the other somewhat more.
The smaller one had a little bolt head covered with
woolly brown hair, and was the most amusing and interest-
ing miniature imaginable. Both kept constantly with the
herd, trotting after them in every charge ; when the
others stood at rest they ran in and out between the legs
of the older ones ; and not their own mothers alone, but
every female in the group, caressed them in turn.
The dam of the youngest was the second elephant
singled out by the noosers, and as she was dragged along
by the decoys, the little creature kept by her side till she
was drawn close to the fatal tree. The men at first were
rather amused than otherwise by its anger; but they
found that it would not permit them to place the second
noose upon its mother ; it ran between her and them, it
tried to seize the rope, it pushed them and struck them
with its little trunk, till they were forced to drive it back138	The Wild Elephant.
to the herd. It retreated slowly, shouting all the way,
and pausing at every step to look back. It then attached
itself to the largest female remaining in the group, and
placed itself across her fore legs, whilst she hung down
her trunk over its side and soothed and caressed it.
Here it continued moaning and lamenting, till the
noosers had left off securing its mother, when it instantly
returned to her side; but as it became troublesome
again, attacking every one who passed, it was at last tied
up by a rope to an adjoining tree, to which the other
young one was also tied. The second little one, equally
with its playmate, exhibited great affection for its dam;
it went willingly with its captor as far as the tree to which
she was fastened, and in passing her stretched out its
trunk and tried to rejoin her; but finding itself forced
along, it struggled and caught at every twig and branch
within its reach, screaming with grief and disappointment.
These two little creatures were the most vociferous of
the whole herd, their shouts were incessant, they struggled
to attack everyone within reach ; and as their bodies were
more lithe and pliant than those of greater growth, their
contortions were quite wonderful. The most amusing
thing was, that in the midst of all their agony and afflic-
tion, the little fellows seized on every article of food
that was thrown to them, and munched and roared simul-
taneously.
Amongst the last of the elephants noosed was the
rogue. Though far more savage than the others, he
joined in none of their charges and assaults on the
fences, as they uniformly drove him off and would notDeath.
139
permit him to enter their circle. When dragged past
another of his companions in misfortune, who was lying
exhausted on the ground, he flew upon him and attempted
to fasten his teeth in his head ; this was the only instance
of viciousness which occurred during the progress of the
corral. When tied up and overpowered, he was at first
noisy and violent, but soon lay down peacefully, a sign,
according to the hunters, that his death was at hand.
Their prognostication proved to be correct; he continued
for about twelve hours to cover himself with dust like the
others, and to moisten it with water from his trunk; but
at length he sunk exhausted, and died so calmly, that
having been moving but a few moments before, his death
was only perceived by the myriads of black flies by which
his body was almost instantly covered, although not one
was visible a moment before.1 The Rodiyas were called
1 The surprising faculty of vultures
for discovering carrion, has been a
subject of much speculation, as to whe-
ther it be dependent on their power of
sight or of scent. It is not, however,
more mysterious than the unerring cer-
tainty and rapidity with which some of
the minor animals, and more especially
insects, in warm climates congregate
around the offal- on which they feed.
Circumstanced as they are, they must
be guided towards their object mainly
if not exclusively by the sense of smell;
but hat which excites astonishment is
the small degree of odour which seems
to suffice for the purpose; the subtlety
and rapidity with which it traverses and
impregnates the air; and the keen and
quick perception with which it is taken
up by the organs of those creatures.
The instance of the scavenger beetles
has been already alluded to ; the
promptitude with which they discern
the existence of matter suited to their
purposes, and the speed with which
they hurry to it from all directions;
often from distances as extraordinary,
proportionably, as those traversed by
the eye of the vulture. In the instance
of the dying elephant referred to above,
life was barely extinct when the flies, of
which not one was visible but a moment
before, arrived in clouds and blackened
the body by their multitude; scarcely
an instant was allowed to elapse for the
commencement of decomposition ; no
odour of putrefaction could be discerned
by us who stood close by; yet some
peculiar smell of mortality, simulta-
neously with parting breath, must have
summoned them to the feast. Ants ex-
hibit an instinct equally surprising.
I have sometimes covered up a particle
of refined sugar with paper on the cen-
tre of a polished table; and counted
the number of minutes which would140	The Wild Elephant,
in to loose from the tree the ropes that bound him, and
two tame elephants being harnessed to the dead body, it
was dragged to a distance without the corral.
When every wild elephant had been noosed and tied
up, the scene presented was truly oriental. From one to
two thousand natives, many of them in gaudy dresses
and armed with spears, crowded about the enclosures.
Their families too had collected from great distances to
see the spectacle; women, whose children clung like
little bronzed Cupids by their sides; and girls, many of
them in the graceful costume of that part of the country,
—a scarf, which, after having been brought round the
waist, is thrown over the left shoulder, leaving the right
arm and side free and uncovered.
At the foot of each tree was its captive elephant;
elapse before it was fastened on by the
small black ants of Ceylon, and a line
formed to lower it safely to the floor.
Here was a substance which, to our
apprehension at least, is altogether
inodorous, and yet the quick sense of
smell must have been the only conductor
of the ants. It has been observed of
those fishes which travel overland on
the evaporation of the ponds in which
they live, that they invariably march in
the direction of the nearest water, and
even when captured, and placed on the
floor of a room, their efforts to escape
are always made towards the same
point. Is the sense of smell sufficient
to account for this display of instinct
in them? or is it aided by special
organs in the case of the others ? Dr.
McGee, formerly of the Royal Navy,
writing to me on the subject of the
instant appearance of flies in the vicinity
of dead bodies, says: “In warm cli-
mates they do not wait for death to
invite them to the banquet. In Jamaica
I have again and again seen them settle
on a patient, and hardly to be driven
away by the nurse, the patient himself
saying, ‘ Here are these flies coming to
eat me ere I am dead.* At times they
have enabled the doctor, when other-
wise he would have been in doubt as to
his prognosis, to determine whether the
strange apyretic interval occasionally
present in the last stage of yellow fever
was the fatal lull or the lull of recovery;
and ‘ What say the flies? * has been
the settling question. Among many,
many cases during a long period I have
seen but one recovery after the assem-
bling of the flies. I consider the fore-
going as a confirmation of smell being
the guide even to the attendants, a
cadaverous smell has been perceived to
arise from the body of a patient twenty-
four hours before death.”Sagacity.	141
some still struggling and writhing in feverish excitement,
whilst others, in exhaustion and despair, lay calm and
motionless, except that, from time to time, they heaped
fresh dust upon their heads. The mellow notes of a
Kandyan flute, which was played at a distance, had a
striking effect upon one or more of them; they turned
their heads in the direction from which the music came,
expanded their broad ears, and were evidently soothed
with the plaintive sound. The two little ones alone
still roared for freedom ; they stamped their feet, and
blew clouds of dust over their shoulders, brandishing
their little trunks aloft, and threatened every one who
came within their reach.
At first the older ones, when secured, spumed every
offer of food, trampled it under foot, and turned haughtily
away. A few, however, as they became more composed,
could not resist the temptation of the juicy stems of the
plantain, but rolling them under foot, till they detached
the layers, they raised them in their tmnks, and com-
menced to chew them listlessly.
On the whole, whilst the sagacity, the composure, and
docility of the decoys were such as to excite lively
astonishment, it was not possible to withhold high admi-
ration from the calm and dignified demeanour of the
captives. Their entire bearing was at variance with the
representation made by some of the “ sportsmen ” who
harass them, that they are treacherous, savage, and
revengeful; when tormented by the guns of their perse-
cutors, they no doubt display their powers and sagacity
in efforts to retaliate or escape; but here their every142	The Wild Elephant.
movement was indicative of innocence and timidity.
After a struggle, in which they evinced no disposition to
violence or revenge, they submitted with the calmness
of despair. Their attitudes were pitiable, their grief was
most touching, and their low moaning went to the heart.
We could not have borne to witness their distress had their
capture been effected by the needless infliction of pain,
or had they been destined to ill-treatment afterwards.
It was now about two hours after noon, and the first
elephants that had entered the corral having been dis-
posed of, preparations were made to reopen the gate,
and drive in the other two herds, over which the watchers
were still keeping guard. The area of the inclosure was
cleared; and silence was again imposed on the crowds
who surrounded the corral. The bars that secured the
entrance were withdrawn, and every precaution repeated
as before; but as the space inside was now somewhat
trodden down, especially near the entrance, by the fre-
quent charges of the last herd, and as it was to be
apprehended that the others might be earlier alarmed
and retrace their steps, before the barricades could be
replaced, two tame ones were stationed inside to protect
the men to whom that duty was assigned.
All preliminaries being at length completed, the signal
was given; the beaters on the side most distant from
the corral closed in with tom-toms and discordant noises;
a hedge-fire of musketry was kept up in the rear of the
terrified elephants; thousands of voices urged them
forward; we heard the jungle crashing as they came on,
and at last they advanced through an opening amongstU3
Another Capture.
the trees, bearing down all before them like a charge of
locomotives. They were led by a huge female, nearly
nine feet high, after whom one half of the herd dashed
precipitately through the narrow entrance, but the rest,
turning suddenly towards the left, succeeded in forcing
the cordon of guards and making good their escape to
the forest.
No sooner had the others passed in through the gate,
than the tame elephants stepped forward from either side,
and before the herd could return from the further end
of the enclosure, the bars were replaced, the entrance
closed, and the men in charge glided outside the stockade.
The elephants which had previously been made prisoners
within exhibited intense excitement as the fresh din
arose around them; they started to their feet, and
stretched their trunks in the direction whence they
winded the scent of the herd in its headlong flight; and
as the latter rushed past, they renewed their struggles
to get free and follow. It is not possible to imagine
anything more exciting than the spectacle which the
wild ones presented careering round the corral, uttering
piercing screams, with heads erect and trunks aloft, the
very emblems of rage and perplexity, of power and help-
lessness.
Along with those which entered at the second drive
was one that evidently belonged to another herd, and
had been separated from it in the melee when the latter
effected their escape, and, as usual, his new companions
in misfortune drove him off indignantly as often as he
attempted to approach them.144
The Wild Elephant
The demearfour of those taken in the second drive
differed materially from that of the preceding captives,
who, having entered the corral in darkness, suddenly
found themselves girt with fire and smoke, and beset by
hideous sounds and sights on every side, and were
speedily reduced by fear to stupour and submission—
whereas, the second herd having passed into the en-
closure by daylight, and its area being trodden down in
many places, could clearly discern the fences, and were
consequently alarmed and enraged at their confinement.
They were thus as restless as the others had been calm,
and so much more vigorous in their assaults that, on one
occasion, their courageous leader, undaunted by the
multitude of white wands thrust towards her, was only
driven back from the stockade by a hunter hurling a
blazing flambeau at her head. Her attitude as she stood
repulsed, but still irresolute, was a study for a painter.
Her eye dilated, her ears expanded, her back arched
like a tiger, and her fore-foot in air, whilst she uttered
those hideous screams that are imperfectly described by
the term “ trumpeting?
Although repeatedly passing by the unfortunates from
the former drove, the new herd seemed to take no
friendly notice of them; they halted inquiringly for a
minute, and then resumed their career round the corral,
and once or twice in their headlong flight they rushed
madly over the bodies of the prostrate captives as they
lay in their misery on the ground.
It was evening before the new captives had grown
wearied with their furious and repeated charges, andH5
Third Day.
Stood still in the centre of the corral collected into a
terrified and motionless group. The fires were then re-
lighted, the guards redoubled by the addition of the
beaters, who were now relieved from the duty of watching
in the forest, and the spectators retired to their bungalows
for the night.
The business of the third day began by noosing and
tying up the new captives, and the first sought out was
their magnificent leader. Siribeddi and the tame tusker
having forced themselves on either side of her, a boy in
the service of the rata-mahat-meya succeeded in attach-
ing a rope to her hind-foot. Siribeddi moved off, but
feeling her strength insufficient to drag the reluctant
prize, she went down on her fore-knees, so as to add the
full weight of her body to the pull. The tusker, seeing
her difficulty, placed himself in front of the prisoner, and
forced her backwards, step by step, till his companion
brought her fairly up to the tree, and wound the rope
round the stem. Though overpowered by fear, she
showed the fullest sense of the nature of the danger she
had to apprehend. She kept her head turned towards
the noosers, and tried to step in advance of the decoys;
in spite of all their efforts, she tore off the first noose
from her fore-leg, and placing it under her foot, snapped
it into fathom lengths. When finally secured, her writh-
ings were extraordinary. She doubled in her head under
her chest, till she lay as round as a hedgehog, and rising
again, stood on her fore-feet, and lifting her hind-feet off
the ground, she wrung them from side to side, till the
great tree above her trembled in every branch.
L146	. The Wild Elephant
Before proceeding to catch the remainder we requested
that the smaller trees and jungle, which partially ob
structed our view, might be broken away, being no
longer essential to screen the entrance to the corral; and
five of the tame elephants were brought up for the pur-
pose. They felt the strength of each tree with their
trunks, then swaying it backwards and forwards, by
pushing it with their foreheads, they watched the oppor-
tunity when it was in full swing to raise their fore-feet
against the stem, and bear it down to the ground.1 Then
tearing off the festoons of climbing plants, and trampling
down the smaller branches and brushwood, they pitched
them with their tusks, piling them into heaps along the
side of the fence.
Amongst the last that was secured was the solitary
individual belonging to the fugitive herd. When the
tame one attempted to drag him backwards from the
tree near which he was noosed, he laid hold of it with
his trunk and lay down on his side immoveable. The
temple tusker and another were ordered up to assist, and
it required the combined efforts of the three elephants
to force him along. When dragged to the place at which
he was to be tied up, he continued the contest with
desperation, and to prevent the second noose being
placed on his foot, he sat down on his haunches, almost
in the attitude of the “ Florentine Boar,” keeping his
hind-feet beneath him, and defending his fore-feet with
his trunk, with which he flung back the rope as often as
it was attempted to attach it.
1 This is precisely the action ascribed levelling palm trees. De Anim. Hist.
by Aristotle to the elephant, when 1. ix. c. 2.Slackening the Ropes.	147
When overpowered and made fast, his grief was most
affecting; his violence sunk to utter prostration, and he
lay on the ground, uttering choking cries, with tears
trickling down his cheeks.
The last operation of the corral was that of slackening
the ropes, and marching each captive elephant down to
the river between two tame ones. This was effected
very simply. A decoy, with a strong collar round its
neck, stood on either side of the wild one, on which a
similar collar was formed by successive coils of coco-nut
rope • and then, connecting the three collars together,
the prisoner was effectually made safe between his two
guards. During this operation, it was curious to see how
the tame elephant, from time to time, used its trunk to148	The Wild Elephant.
shield the arm of its rider, and ward off the trunk of
the prisoner, who resisted the placing the rope round his
neck. This done, the nooses were removed from his
feet, and he was marched off to the river, in which he
and his companions were allowed to bathe; a privilege
of which all availed themselves eagerly. Each was then
made fast to a tree in the forest, and keepers being
assigned to him, with a retinue of leaf-cutters, he was
plentifully supplied with his favourite food, and left to
the care and tuition of his new masters.
Returning from a spectacle such as I have attempted
to describe, one cannot help feeling how immeasurably
it exceeds in interest those royal battues where timid
deer are driven in crowds to unresisting slaughter; or
those vaunted “wild sports” the amusement of which
appears to be in proportion to the effusion of blood.
Here the only display of power was the imposition of
restraint; and though considerable mortality often occurs
amongst the animals caught, the infliction of pain, so
far from being an incident of the operation, is cautiously
avoided, from its tendency to enrage, the policy of the
captor being to conciliate and soothe. The whole scene
exhibits the most marvellous example of the voluntary
alliance of animal sagacity and instinct in active co-
operation with human intelligence and courage; and
nothing else in nature, not even the chase of the whale,
can afford so vivid an illustration of the sovereignty of
man over brute creation even when confronted with force
in its most stupendous embodiment.
Of the two young elephants which were taken in theThe little one.
149
corral, the smallest was sent down to my house at
Colombo, where he became a general favourite with the
whole family. He attached himself especially to the
coachman, who had a little shed erected for him near his
own quarters at the stables. But his favourite resort
was the kitchen, where he received a daily allowance
of milk and plantains, and picked up other delicacies
besides. He was innocent and playful in the extreme,
and when walking in the grounds he would trot up to
me, twine his little trunk round my arm, and coax me
to take him to the fruit-trees. In the evening the grass
cutters now and then indulged him by permitting him to
carry home a load of fodder for the horses, on which
occasions he assumed an air of gravity that was highly
amusing, showing that he was deeply impressed with the
importance and responsibility of the service entrusted to
him. Being sometimes permitted to enter the dining-
room, and helped to fruit at dessert, he at last learned his
way to the sideboard ; and on more than one occasion,
having stolen in during the absence of the servants, he
made a clear sweep of the wine-glasses and china in his
endeavours to reach a basket of oranges. For these and
similar pranks we were at last forced to put him away.
He was sent to the Government stud, at Colombo,
where he was affectionately received and adopted by
Siribeddi, and he now takes his turn of public duty in
the department of the Commissioner of Roads.The Wild Elephant.
150
CHAPTER III.
CONDUCT IN CAPTIVITY.
The idea prevailed in ancient times, and obtains even at
the present day, that the Indian elephant surpasses that
of Africa in sagacity and tractability, and consequently
in capacity for training, so as to render its services more
available to man. There does not appear to me to be
sufficient ground for this conclusion. It originated, in
all probability, in the first impressions created by the
accounts of the elephant brought back by the Greeks
after the Indian expedition of Alexander, and above all
by the descriptions of Aristotle, whose knowledge of
the animal was derived exclusively from the East. The
belief was perpetuated by later writers, especially
Diodorus Siculus, who says the elephants of India
excelled those of Africa in mental capacity not less than
in magnitude and strength:—02 rdig te aXiccug ical rate
tov aMjxaTOQ fHOfiaig iroXv wpoi^ovai t&v ev rrj Aifivrj
yivofiiv^v. (Diod. Sic. ii. c. 16.) A long interval elapsed
before the elephant of Africa, and its capabilities,
became known in Europe. The first elephants brought
to Greece by Antipater, were from India, as were also
those introduced by Pyrrhus into Italy. Taught by thisCaptivity.	151
example, the Carthaginians undertook to employ African
elephants in war. Jugurtha led them against Metellus,
and Juba against Caesar; but from inexperienced and
deficient training, they proved less effective than the
elephants of India,1 and the historians of these times
ascribed to inferiority of race that which was but the
result of insufficient education.
It must, however, be remembered that the elephants
which, at a later period, astonished the Romans by their
sagacity, and whose performances in the amphitheatre
have been described by ^Elian and Pliny, were brought
from Africa, and acquired their accomplishments from
European instructors;2 a sufficient proof that under
equally favourable auspices the African species are
capable of developing similar docility and powers with
those of India. It is one of the facts from which the
inferiority of the Negro race has been inferred, that
they alone, of all the nations amongst whom the ele-
phant is found, have never manifested ability to domesti-
cate it; and even as regards the more highly developed
the Indian type, whilst those on Roman
medals can at once be pronounced
African, from the peculiarities of the
convex forehead and expansive ears.
—Ibid. liv. i. cap. i. p. 3.
Armandi has, with infinite industry,
collected from original sources a mass
of curious information relative to the
employment of elephants in ancient
warfare, which he has published under
the title of Histoire Militaire des
Elephants depuis les temps les phis re-
cules jusqu'd Vintroduction des armes
d feu. Paris, 1843.
a ./Elian, lib. ii. cap. ii.
1 Armandi, Hist. Milit. des Ele-
phants, liv. i. ch. i. p. 2. It is an
interesting fact, noticed by Armandi,
that the elephants figured on the coins
of Alexander and the Seleucidae in-
variably exhibit the characteristics of152	The Wild Elephant.
races who inhabited the valley of the Nile, it is observ-
able that the elephant is nowhere to be found amongst
the animals figured on the monuments of ancient Egypt,
whilst the camelopard, the lion, and even the hippopota-
mus are represented. And although in later times the
knowledge of the art of training appears to have existed
under the Ptolemies, and on the southern shores of the
Mediterranean, it admits of no doubt that it was com-
municated by the more accomplished natives of India
who had settled there.1
Another favourite doctrine of the earlier visitors to
the East seems to me to be equally fallacious; Pyrard,
Bernier, Phillipe, Thevenot, and other travellers in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, proclaimed the
superiority of the elephant of Ceylon, in size, strength,
and sagacity, above those of all other parts of India;2
See Schlegel’s Essay on the Ele-
phant and the Sphynx, Classical Jour-
nal, No. lx. Although the trained
elephant nowhere appears upon the
monuments of the Egyptians, the animal
was not unknown to them, and ivory
and elephants are figured on the walls
of Thebes and Kamac amongst the
spoils of Thothmes III. and the
tribute paid to Rameses I. The Island
of Elephantine, in the Nile, near
Assouan (Syene) is styled in hiero-
glyphical writing “The Land of the
Elephantbut as it is a mere rock, it
probably owes its designation to its
form. See Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s
Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pi. iv. ; vol.
v. p. 176. Above the first cataract of
the Nile are two small islands, each
bearing the name of Phylae quaere,
is the derivation of this word at all
connected with the Arabic term fil?
See ante, p. 4, note. The elephant
figured in the sculptures of Nineveh is
universally as wild, not domesticated.
2 This is merely a reiteration of the
statement of ./Elian, who ascribes to
the elephants of Taprobane a vast
superiority in size, strength, and in-
telligence, above those of continental
India: Kai oi Si ye i/7j<ria>Tai eAe^avre?
twi' rjneipujTOJV dAiei/xwTepoi re Tyv
piop-qv /cat pei^ov? iSeiv ela'i, Kai $vp.o<ro-
tjxoTepot Se iravra irai'TTj icpiVoiVTO av.
—tElian, De Nat. Anim. lib. xvi.
cap. xviii.
./Elian alsp, in the same chapter,
states the fact of the shipment of ele-
phants in large boats from Ceylon to
the opposite continent of India, for sale
to the king of Kalinga; so that the
export from Manaar, described in a
former passage, has been going on
apparently without interruption since
the time of the Romans.Elephants in War.	153
and Tavernier in particular is supposed to have stated
that if a Ceylon elephant be introduced amongst those
bred in any other place, by an instinct of nature they
do him homage by laying their trunks to the ground,
and raising them reverentially. This passage has been
so repeatedly quoted in works on Ceylon that it has
passed into an aphorism, and is always adduced as a
testimony to the surpassing intelligence of the elephants
of that island ; although a reference to the original shows
that Tavernier’s observations are not only fanciful in
themselves, but are restricted to the supposed excellence
of the Ceylon animal in war.1 This estimate of the
superiority of the elephant of Ceylon, if it ever prevailed
in India, was not current there at a very early period;
for in the Ramayana, which is probably the oldest epic
in the world, the stud of Dasartha, the king of Ayodhya,
was supplied with elephants from the Himalaya and
the Vindhya Mountains.2 I have had no opportunity
of testing by personal observation the justice of the
assumption; but from all that I have heard of the ele-
1 The expression of Tavernier is
to the effect, that as compared with all
others, the elephants of Ceylon are
“plus courageux a la guerre.” The
rest of the passage is a curiosity:—
“II faut remarquer ici une chose
qu’on aura peut-etre de la peine a
croire mais qui est toutefois tres-
verita'ble: c’est que lorsque quelque
roi ou quelque seigneur a quelqu’un
de ces elephants de Ceylan, et qu’on
en amene quelque autre des lieux ou
les marchands vont les prendre, comme
d’Achen, de Siam, d’Arakan, de Pegu,
du royaume de Boutan, d’Assam, des ter-
res de Cochin et de la c6te du Melinde,
des que les elephants en voient un de
Ceylan, par un instinct de nature, ils
lui font la reverence, portant le bout
de leur trompe a la terre et la relevant.
II est vrai que les elephants que les
grands seigneurs entretiennent, quand
on les amene devant eux, pour voir s’ils
sont en bon point, font trois fois une
espece de reverence avec leur trompe,
ce que fai vu souvent; mais ils sont
styles a cela, et leurs maitres le leur
enseignent de bonne heure.”—Les Six
Voyages de J. B. Tavernier, lib. iii.
ch. 20.
3 Ramayana, sec. vi. ; Carey and
MARSHMAN,i. 105; Fauche, i. t. p. 66.154
The Wild Elephant.
phants of the continent, and seen of those of Ceylon,
I have reason to conclude that the difference, if not
imaginary, is exceptional, and must have arisen in par-
ticular and individual instances, from more judicious or
elaborate instruction.
The earliest knowledge of the elephant in Europe and
the West, was derived from the conspicuous position
assigned to it in the wars of the East: in India, from the
remotest antiquity, it formed one of the most picturesque,
if not the most effective, features in the armies of the
native princes.1 It is more than probable that the
1 The only mention of the elephant
in Sacred History is in the account
given in Maccabees of the invasion of
Egypt by Antiochus, who entered it
170 b.c., “ with chariots and elephants,
and horsemen, and a great navy.”
(1 Macc. i. 17.) Frequent allusions to
the use of elephants in war occur in
both books: and in chap. vi. 34, it is
stated that “ to provoke the elephants
to fight they show them the blood of
grapes and of mulberries.” The term
showed, eSei^av, might be thought to
imply that the animals were enraged
by the sight of the wine and its colour,
but in the Third Book of Maccabees,
in the Greek Septuagint, various other
passages show that wine, on such occa-
sions, was administered to the elephants
to render them furious. (Macc. v. 2,10,
45.) Phile mentions the same fact, De
Elephante, i. 145.
There is a very curious account of
the mode in which the Arab conquerors
of Scinde, in the 9th and 10th centuries,
equipped the elephant for war; which
being written with all the particularity
of an eye-witness, bears the impress of
truth and accuracy. Massoudi, who
was born in Bagdad at the close of the
9th century, travelled in India in the
year a. d. 913, and visited the Gulf of
Cambay, the coast of Malabar, and the
island of Ceylon :—from a larger ac-
count of his journeys he compiled a
summary under the title of “ Moroudj
al-dzeheb” or the “ Golden Meadows,”
the MS. of which is now in the Biblio-
theque Nationale. M. Reinaud, in
describing this manuscript, says, on its
authority, “ The Prince of Mensura,
whose dominions lay south of the Indus,
maintained eighty elephants trained for
war, each of which bore in his trunk a
bent cymeter (carthel), with which he
was taught to cut and thrust at all con-
fronting him. The trunk itself was
effectually protected by a coat of mail,
and the rest of the body enveloped in a
covering composed jointly of iron and
horn. Other elephants were employed
in drawing chariots, carrying baggage,
and grinding forage, and the perform-
ance of all bespoke the utmost intelli-
gence and docility.”—Reinaud, Me-
moire sur VInde, anterieurement au
milieu du xie siecle, d'apres les Scri-
vains arabes, persans et chinois. Paris,
m. d. ccc. xlix. p. 215. See Sprenger’s
English translation of Massoudi, vol. i.
P- 383-Training.	155
earliest attempts to take and train the elephant, were
with a view to military uses, and that the art was per-
petuated in later times to gratify the pride of the eastern
kings, and sustain the pomp of their processions.
An impression prevails even to the present day, that
the process of training is tedious and difficult, and the
reduction of a full-grown elephant to obedience, slow
and troublesome in the extreme.1 In both particulars,
however, the contrary is the truth. The training as it
prevails in Ceylon is simple, and the conformity and
obedience of the animal are developed with singular
rapidity. For the first three days, or till they will eat
freely, which they seldom do in a less time, the newly-
captured elephants are allowed to remain perfectly quiet;
and, if practicable, a tame elephant is tied near them to
give the wild ones confidence. Where many elephants
are being trained at once, it is customary to put each
new captive between the stalls of half-tamed ones, when
it soon takes to its food. This stage being attained,
training commences by placing tame elephants on either
side. The “ cooroowe vidahn,” or the head of the stables,
stands in front of the wild elephants holding a long stick
with a sharp iron point. Two men are then stationed
one on either side, assisted by the tame elephants, and
each holding a hendoo or crook2 towards the wild one’s
trunk, whilst one or two others rub their hands over his
back, keeping up all the while a soothing and plaintive
chaunt, interlarded with endearing epithets, such as “ ho!
1 Broderip, Zoological Recreations,	2 The iron goad with which the
p. 226.	keeper directs the movements of the156	The Wild Elephant.
my son,” or “ ho ! my father,” or “ my mother,” as may
be applicable to the age and sex of the captive. The
elephant is at first furious, and strikes in all directions
with his trunk; but the men in front receiving all these
blows on the points of their weapons, the extremity of
the trunk becomes so sore that the animal curls it up
close, and seldom afterwards attempts to use it offen-
sively. The first dread of man’s power being thus es-
tablished, the process of taking him to bathe between
two tame elephants is greatly facilitated, and by length-
ening the neck rope, and drawing the feet together
as close as possible, the process of laying him down
in the water is finally accomplished by the keepers
pressing the sharp point of their hendoos over the back-
bone.
For many days the roaring and resistance which
attend the operation are considerable, and it often re-
quires the sagacious interference of the tame elephants
to control the refractory wild ones. It soon, however,
becomes practicable to leave the latter alone, only
elephants, called a hendoo in Ceylon retained the present shape from the
.................... .n use at the present
Medal of Numidia.	day in India.
The Greeks called it apxr), and the
and hawkus in Bengal, appears to have Romans cusp is.
remotest antiquity. It is figured in the
medals of Caracalla in the identical
Modern Hendoo.Medicines.
157
taking them to and from the stall by the aid of a decoy.
This step lasts, under ordinary treatment, for about three
weeks, when an elephant may be taken alone with his
legs hobbled, and a man walking backwards in front
with the point of the hendoo always presented to the
elephant’s head, and a keeper with an iron crook at
each ear. On getting into the water, the fear of being
pricked on his tender back induces him to lie down
directly on the crook being only held over him in ter-
rorem. Once this point has been achieved, the further
process of taming is dependent upon the disposition of
the creature.1
The greatest care is requisite, and daily medicines are
applied to heal the fearful wounds on the* legs which
even the softest ropes occasion. This is the great diffi-
culty of training; for the wounds fester grievously, and
months and sometimes years will elapse before an ele-
phant will allow his feet to be touched without indications
of alarm and anger.
The observation has been frequently made that the
elephants most vicious and troublesome to tame, and
1 Jordanus de Severac, in his
Mirabilia Descripta^ written about the
year 1330, thus describes the mode then
in use for taming captured elephants in
Cambodia:—“And so the wild ele-
phant remaineth caught between the
two gates. Then cometh a man clothed
in black or red, with his face covered,
who cruelly thrashes him from above,
and crieth out cruelly against him as
against a ‘ thief! ’ and this goeth on for
live or six days; without his getting
anything to eat or drink. Then cometh
another man with his face bare and
clad in another colour, who feigneth
to smite the first man, and to drive and
thrust him away. Then he cometh to
the elephant and talketh to him, and
with a long spear he scratcheth him,
and he kisses him and gives him food.
And this goes on for ten or fifteen days,
and so by degrees he ventureth down
beside him and bindeth him to another
elephant. And then after about twenty
days he may be taken out to be taught
and broken in.” (Chap, v.)158	The Wild Elephant.
the most worthless when tamed, are those distinguished
by a thin trunk and flabby pendulous ears. The period
of tuition does not appear to be influenced by the size
or strength of the animals : some of the smallest give
the greatest amount of trouble; whereas, in the instance
of the two largest that have been taken in Ceylon within
the last thirty years, both were docile in a remarkable
degree. One in particular, which was caught and trained
by Mr. Cripps, when Government agent, in the Seven
Kories, fed from the hand the first night it was secured,
and in a very few days evinced pleasure on being patted
on the head.1 There is none so obstinate, not even a
rogue, that may not, when kindly and patiently treated,
be eventually conciliated and reconciled.
The males are generally more unmanageable than the
females, and in both an inclination to lie down to rest
is regarded as a favourable symptom of approaching
tractability, some of the most resolute having been
known to stand for months together, even during sleep.
Those which are the most obstinate and violent at first
are the soonest and most effectually subdued, and gene-
rally prove permanently docile and submissive. But
those which are sullen or morose, although they may not
1 This was the largest elephant that decoys. He on one occasion escaped,
had been tamed in Ceylon; he measured but was recaptured in the forest; and
upwards of nine feet at the shoulders, he afterwards became so docile as to
and belonged to the caste so highly perform a variety of tricks. He was
prized for the temples. He was gentle at length ordered to be removed to
after his first capture, but his removal Colombo; but such was his terror on
from the corral to the stables, though approaching the fort, that on coaxing
only a distance of six miles, was a him to enter the gate, he became
matter of the extremest difficulty: his paralysed in the extraordinary way
extraordinary strength rendering him elsewhere alluded to, and died on the
more than a match for the attendant spot.Docility.	159
provoke chastisement by their viciousness, are always
slower in being trained, and are rarely to be trusted in
after-life.1
But whatever may be its natural gentleness and
docility, the temper of an elephant is seldom to be im-
plicitly relied on in a state of captivity and coercion.
The most amenable are subject to occasional fits of
stubbornness; and even after years of submission, irri-
tability and resentment will sometimes unaccountably
manifest themselves. It may be that the restraints and
severer discipline of training have not been entirely for-
gotten ; or that incidents which in ordinary health would
be productive of no demonstration whatever, may lead,
in moments of temporary illness, to fretfulness and anger.
1 The natives of Ceylon profess that
the high-caste elephants, such as are
allotted to the temples, are of all others
the most difficult to tame, and M.
Bles, the Dutch correspondent of Buf-
fon, mentions a caste of elephants
which he had heard of, as being pecu-
liar to the Kandyan kingdom, that
were not higher than a heifer (genisse),
covered with hair, and insusceptible of
being tamed. (Buffon, Sufip. vol. vi.
p. 29.) Bishop Heber, in the account
of his journey from Bareilly towards
the Himalayas, describes the Raja
Gourman Sing, “mounted on a little
female elephant, hardly bigger than a
Durham ox, and almost as shaggy as a
poodle.” (JoUrn. ch. xvii.) It will be
remembered that the mammoth dis-
covered in 1803 embedded in icy soil
in Siberia, was covered with a coat of
long hair, with a sort of wool at the
roots. Hence there arose the question
whether that northern region had been
formerly inhabited by a race of ele-
phants, so fortified by nature against
cold; or whether the individual dis-
covered had been borne thither by cur-
rents from some more temperate lati-
tudes. To the latter theory the presence
of hair seemed a fatal objection ; but so
far as my own observation goes, I
believe the elephants are more or less
provided with hair. In some it is more
developed than in others, and it is par-
ticularly observable in the young, which
when captured are frequently covered
with a woolly fleece, especially about
the head and shoulders. In the older
individuals in Ceylon, this is less ap-
parent ; and in captivity the hair ap-
pears to be altogether removed by the
custom of the mahouts to rub their
skin daily with oil and a rough lump of
burned clay. See a paper on the sub-
ject, Asiat. Journ. N. S. vol. xiv. p.
182, by Mr. G. Fairholme. Fossil
remains of elephants of extremely small
dimensions have, it is said, been dis-
covered in the island of Malta.i6o
The Wild Elephant
The knowledge of this infirmity led to the popular belief
recorded by Phile, that the elephant had two hearts,
under the respective influences of which it evinced fero-
city or gentleness; subdued by the one to habitual
tractability and obedience, but occasionally roused by
the other to displays of rage and resistance.1
In the process of training, the presence of the tame
ones can generally be dispensed with after two months,
and the captive may then be ridden by the driver alone ;
and after three or four months he may, so far as regards
docility, be entrusted with labour ; but it is undesirable,
and even involves the risk of its life, to work an elephant
too soon; it has frequently happened that a valuable
animal has laid down and died the first time it was tried
in harness, from what the natives believe to be “ broken
heart,”—certainly without any cause inferable from injury
or previous disease.2 It is observable, that till a captured
elephant begins to relish food, and grow fat upon it, he
becomes so fretted by work, that it kills him in an in-
credibly short space of time.
1 Ai7r>7]? 84 <fta<TLV eviroprjerat tcapSias *	“ made vigorous resistance to the plac-
T# 8k irpoarivks teal Opaavrtjtos %4vov.	when the elephant, which had lain
Kal rrfj /ukr avrwv aicpoa<r9ai twv Koyuv down as if quite exhausted, reared sud-
Of>? av rts ’IvSo? ev TiOaersviov Ae'yoi, denly on the hind quarters, and fell on
11# 8k irpos avTovs rovs vo/xets 4m-	its side—dead!” (P. 104.)
Phile, Expos, de Eleph. 1. 126, &c. from very slight causes; “ if they fall,”
3 Captain Yule, in his Narrative he says, “ at any time, though on plain
cf an Embassy to Ava in 1855, records ground, they either die immediately, or
an illustration of this tendency of the languish till they die; their great
elephant to sudden death ; one newly weight occasioning them so much hurt
captured, the process of taming which by the fall.” [Phil. Trans. A. D. 1701,
was exhibited to the British Envoy, vol. xxiii. p. 1052.)
Tpexetv
Ei? ras iraXacas eKTpairkv leaxovpyi'a?.
Mr. Strachan noticed the same lia-
bility of the elephants to sudden deathFirst Employments.	161
The first employment to which an elephant is put is to
tread clay in a brick-field, or to draw a waggon in double
harness with a tame companion. But the work in which
the display of sagacity renders his labour of the highest
value, is that which involves the moving of heavy mate-
rials ; and hence in dragging and piling timber, or con-
veying stones 1 for the construction of retaining walls and
the approaches to bridges his services in an unopened
country are of the utmost importance. When roads are
to be constructed along the face of steep declivities, and
the space is so contracted that risk is incurred either of
the working elephant falling over the precipice or of rocks
slipping down from above, not only are the measures to
which he resorts the most judicious and reasonable that
could be devised, but if urged by his keeper to adopt any
other, he manifests a reluctance sufficient to show that he
has balanced in his own mind the comparative advantages
of each. An elephant appears on all occasions to com-
prehend the purpose and object that he is expected to
promote, and hence he voluntarily executes a variety of
details without any guidance whatever from his keeper.
This is one characteristic in which this animal manifests
a superiority over the horse; although an elephant’s
strength in proportion to its weight is not so great as that
of the latter.
His minute motions when engrossed by such opera-
tions, the activity of his eye, and the earnestness of his
1 A correspondent informs me that stones, moves them by means of a rope,
on the Malabar coast of India, the	which he either draws with his forehead,
elephant, when employed in dragging or manages by seizing it in his teeth.162	The Wild Elephant.
attitudes, can only be comprehended by being seen. In
moving timber and masses of rock his trunk is the in-
strument on which he mainly relies, but those which have
tusks turn them to good account. To get a weighty
stone out of a hollow an elephant will kneel down so as
to apply the pressure of his head to move it upwards,
then steadying it with one foot till he can raise himself,
he will apply a fold of his trunk to shift it to its place,
and fit it accurately in position : this done, he will step
round to view it on either side, and adjust it with due
precision. He appears to gauge his task by his eye, and
to form a judgment whether the weight be proportionate
to his strength. If doubtful of his own power, he hesi-
tates and halts, and if urged against his will, he roars and
shows temper.
In clearing an opening through forest land, the power
of the African elephant, and the strength ascribed to him
by a recent traveller, as displayed in uprooting trees, have
never been equalled or approached by anything I have
seen of the elephant in Ceylon1 or heard of them in India.
1 “ Here the trees were large and
handsome, but not strong enough to
resist the inconceivable strength of the
mighty monarch of these forests ; al-
most every tree had half its branches
broken short by them, and at every
hundred yards I came upon entire trees,
and these, the largest in the forest,
uprooted clean out of the ground, and
broken short across their stems. ” (A
Hunter's Life in South Africa. By
R. Gordon Cumming, vol. ii. p. 305.)
“ Spreading out from one another, they
smash and destroy all the finest trees
in the forest which happen to be in
their course. ... I have rode through
forests where the trees thus broken lay
so thick across one another, that it was
almost impossible to ride through the
districts.” {Ibid. p. 310.)
Mr. Gordon Cumming does not name
the trees which he saw thus “ uprooted ”
and “ broken across,” nor has he given
any idea of their size and weight; but
Major Denham, who observed like
traces of the elephant in Africa, saw
only small trees overthrown by them;
and Mr. Pringt.e, who had an oppor-
tunity of observing similar practices of
the animals in the neutral territory
of the Eastern frontier of the Cape of
Good Hope, describes their ravages asStrength.
163
Of course much must depend on the nature of the timber
and the moisture of the soil: thus a strong tree on the
verge of a swamp may be overthrown with greater ease
than a small and low one in parched and solid ground.
I have seen no “ tree ” deserving the name, nothing but
jungle and brushwood, thrown down by the mere move-
ment of an elephant without some special exertion of
force. But he is by no means fond of gratuitously task-
ing his strength; and food being so abundant that he
obtains it without an effort, it is not altogether apparent,
even were he able to do so, why he should assail “ the
largest trees in the forest,” and encumber his own haunts
with their broken stems; especially as there is scarcely
anything which an elephant dislikes more than venturing
amongst fallen timber.
A tree of twelve inches in diameter resisted success-
fully the most strenuous struggles of the largest elephant
I ever saw led to it; and when directed by their keepers to
clear away jungle, the removal of even a small tree or a
healthy young coco-nut palm is a matter both of time and
being confined to the mimosas, “im-
mense numbers of which had been torn
out of the ground, and placed in an
inverted position, in order to enable
the animals to browse at their ease on
the soft and juicy roots, which form a
favourite part of their food. Many of
the larger mimosas had resisted all
their efforts; and indeed it is only
after heavy rain, when the soil is soft
and loose, that they ever successfully
attempt this operation.” (Pringle’s
Sketches of South Africa.) Sir S.
Baker, whose observation confirms my
own, as to the limited dimensions of the
trees overthrown by elephants in Cey-
lon, says that in the vicinity of the
White Nile, where the principal food of
the elephant is the mimosa, he saw trees
uprooted by them, which measured
30 feet high and 4 feet 6 inches in
diameter. But he is “ convinced that
no single elephant could have over-
turned them; and the natives assured
him that they mutually assist one
another, and that several engage to-
gether in the work of overthrowing a
large tree ; the powerful tushes of some
being applied as crowbars in the roots
while others pull at the branches with
their trunks.” (The Albert Nyanza,
vol. i. p. 276.)
M 2164	The Wild Elephant.
exertion. Hence the services of an elephant are of much
less value in clearing a forest than in dragging and piling
felled timber. But in the latter occupation he manifests
an intelligence and dexteri-ty which is surprising to a
stranger, because the sameness of the operation enables
the animal to go on for hours disposing of log after log,
almost without a hint or direction from his attendant.
For example, two elephants employed in piling ebony
and satinwood in the yards attached to the commissariat
stores at Colombo, were so accustomed to their work,
that they were able to accomplish it with equal precision
and with greater rapidity than if it had been done by
dock-labourers. When the pile attained a certain height,
and they were no longer able by their conjoint efforts to
raise one of the heavy logs of ebony to the summit, they
had been taught to lean two pieces against the heap, up
the incline of which they gently rolled the remaining
logs, and placed them trimly on the top.
It has been asserted that in their occupations “ ele-
phants are to a surprising extent the creatures of habit,” 1
that their movements are altogether mechanical, and that
“ they are annoyed by any deviation from their accus-
tomed practice, and resent any constrained departure
from the regularity of their course.” So far as my own
observation goes, this is incorrect; and I am assured by
officers of experience, that in regard to changing his
treatment, his hours or his occupation, an elephant re-
quires no more consideration than a horse, but exhibits
the same pliancy and facility.
1 Menageries, etc. “ The Elephant,” vol. ii. p. 23.Punishments.
165
At one point, however, the utility of the elephant stops
short. Such is the intelligence and earnestness he displays
in work, which he seems to conduct almost without
supervision, that it has been assumed1 that he would
continue his labour, and accomplish his given task, as
well in the absence of his keeper as during his presence.
But here his innate love of ease displays itself, and if the
eye of his attendant be withdrawn, the moment he has
finished the thing immediately in hand, he will stroll away
lazily, to browse or enjoy the luxury of fanning himself
and blowing dust over his back.
The means of punishing so powerful an animal is a
question of difficulty to his attendants. Force being
almost inapplicable, they try to work on his passions and
feelings, by such expedients as altering the nature of his
food or withholding it altogether for a time. On such
occasions the demeanour of the creature will sometimes
evince a sense of humiliation as well as of discontent.
In some parts of India it is customary, in dealing with
offenders, to stop their allowance of sugar canes or of
jaggery ; or to restrain them from eating their own share
of fodder and leaves till their companions shall have
finished; and in such cases the consciousness of degra-
dation, betrayed by the looks and attitudes of the culprit,
is quite sufficient to identify him, and to excite a feeling
of sympathy and commiseration.
The elephant’s obedience to his keeper is the result of
affection, as well as of fear ; and although his attachment
becomes so strong that an elephant in Ceylon has been
1 Menageries, etc. ch. vi. p. 138.i66
The Wild Elephant
known to remain out all night, without food, rather than
abandon his mahout, lying intoxicated in the jungle, yet
he manifests little difficulty in yielding the same submis-
sion to a new driver in the event of a change of attend-
ants. This is opposed to the popular belief that “ the
elephant cherishes such an enduring remembrance of his
old mahout, that he cannot easily be brought to obey a
stranger.”1 In the extensive establishments of the
Ceylon Government, the keepers are changed without
hesitation, and the animals, when equally kindly treated,
are usually found to be as tractable and obedient to their
new driver as to the old, so soon as they have become
familiarised with his voice.
This is not, however, invariably the case; and Mr.
Cripps, who had remarkable opportunities for observing
the habits of the elephant in Ceylon, mentioned to me
an instance in which one of a singularly stubborn dispo-
sition occasioned some inconvenience after the death of
its keeper, by refusing to obey any other, till its attend-
ants bethought them of a child about twelve years old,
in a distant village, where the animal had been formerly
picketed, and to whom it had displayed much attachment.
The child was sent for; and on its arrival the elephant,
as anticipated, manifested extreme satisfaction, and was
managed with ease, till by degrees it became reconciled
to the presence of a new superintendent.
It has been said that the mahouts die young, owing to
some supposed injury to the spinal column from the pecu-
liar motion of the elephant; but this remark does not
1 Menageries, etc. “The Elephant,” vol. i. p. 19.Obedience.
167
apply to those in Ceylon, who are healthy, and as long-
lived as other men. If the motion of the elephant be
thus injurious, that of the camel must be still more so ;
yet we never hear of early death ascribed to this cause
by the Arabs.
The voice of the keeper, with a very limited vocabu-
lary of articulate sounds, serves almost alone to guide the
elephant in his domestic, occupations.1 Sir Everard
Home, from an examination of the muscular fibres in
the drum of an elephant’s ear, came to the conclusion,
that notwithstanding the distinctness and power of his
perception of sounds at a greater distance than other
animals, he was insensible to their harmonious modula-
tion and destitute of a musical ear.2 But Professor
Harrison, in a paper read before the Royal Irish
1 The principal sound by which the
mahouts in Ceylon direct the motions
of the elephants is a repetition, with
various modulations, of the words
ur-re! ur-re! This is one of those
interjections in which the sound is so
expressive of the sense that persons in
charge of animals of almost every de-
scription throughout the world appear
to have adopted it with a concurrence
that is very curious. The drivers of
camels in Turkey, Palestine, and
Egypt encourage them to speed by
shouting ar-re ! ar-re ! The Arabs in
Algeria cry eirich! to their mules.
The Moors seem to have carried the
custom with them into Spain, where
mules are still driven with cries of arre
(whence the muleteers derive their
Spanish appellation of “ arrieros ”).
In France the sportsman excites the
hound by shouts of hare! hare! and
the waggoner there turns his horses by
his voice, and the use of the word
hurhaut ! In the North, “ Hurs was
a word used by the old Germans in
urging their horses to speed : ” and Sir
Francis Head, in his Bubbles from
the Brunnens, describes the Schwin-
General shouting “ ariff” to his pigs
—“ ariff! vociferated the old man,
striding after one of his rebellious sub-
jects ; ariff! re-echoed his boy striding
after another.” (P.94.)
To the present day, the herdsmen in
Ireland, and parts of Scotland, drive
their pigs with shouts of hurrish ! a
sound closely resembling that used by
the mahouts in Ceylon.
2 On the Difference between the Hu-
man Membrana tym^ani and that
of the Elephant. By Sir Everard
Home, Bart., Philos. Trans. 1823.
Paper by Prof. Harrison, Proc. Royal
Irish Academy, vol. iii. p. 386.168	The Wild Elephant.
Academy in 1847, has stated that on a careful examina-
tion of the head of an elephant which he had dissected,
he could “ see no evidence of the muscular structure of
the membrana tympcmi so accurately described by Sir
E. Home.’' Sir Everard’s deduction, I may observe,
is clearly inconsistent with the fact that the power of
two elephants may be combined by singing to them a
measured chant, somewhat resembling a sailor’s capstan
song ; and in labour of a particular kind, such as hauling
a stone with ropes, they will thus move conjointly a
weight to which their divided strength would be unequal.1
Nothing can more strongly exhibit the impulse to
obedience in the elephant, than the patience with which,
at the order of his keeper, he swallows the nauseous
medicines of the native elephant-doctors; and it is im-
possible to witness the fortitude with which,, without
shrinking, he submits to excruciating surgical operations
for the removal of tumours and ulcers, without con-
ceiving a vivid impression of his gentleness and intelli-
gence. Dr. Davy when in Ceylon was consulted about
1 I have already noticed the striking
effect produced on the captive elephants
in the corral, by the harmonious notes
of an ivory flute; and on looking to the
graphic description which is given by
Elian of the exploits which he wit-
nessed as performed by the elephants
exhibited at Rome, it is remarkable
how very large a share of their training
appears to have been ascribed to the
employment of music.
Phile, in the account which he has
given of the elephant’s fondness for
music, would almost seem to have
versified the prose narrative of .Elian,
as he describes its excitement at the
more animated portions, its step being
regulated to the time and movements
of the harmony: the whole “ surprising
in a creature whose limbs are without
joints ! ”
KatJ'Oi' ti ttoiw*' dvdpQptav op-
ydvuiv.
Phile, Expos, de Eleph.
1. 216.
For an account of the training and
performances of the elephants at Rome,
as narrated by Elian, see the ap-
pendix to this chapter.Surgical operation.	169
an elephant in the Government stud, which was suffering
from a deep, burrowing sore in the back, just over the
back-bone, and this had long resisted the treatment
ordinarily employed. He recommended the use of the
knife, that vent might be given to the accumulated
matter, but no one of the attendants was competent to
undertake the operation. “ Being assured,” he continues,
“ that the creature would behave well, I undertook it
myself. The elephant was not bound, but was made to
kneel down at his keeper’s command—and with an am-
putating knife, using all my force, I made the incision
required through the tough integuments. The elephant
did not flinch, but rather inclined towards me when
using the knife ; and merely uttered a low, and as it were
suppressed, groan. In short, he behaved as like a human
being as possible, as if conscious (as I believe he was),
that the operation was for his good, and the pain
unavoidable.” 1
Obedience to the orders of his keepers is not, however,
to be assumed as the result of a uniform perception of
the object to be attained by compliance ; and we can-
not but remember the touching incident which took
place during the slaughter of the elephant at Exeter
Change in 1826, when, after receiving ineffectually up-
wards of 120 balls in various parts of his body, he
turned his face to his assailants on hearing the voice of
1 The Angler in the Lake District, derived from a solution of nitrate of
p. 23. A similar story is told in the silver, and voluntarily offered its eye
Memoir of Bishop Wilson, of an ele- fora re-application of the remedy, on a
phant which when suffering with oph- second visit of the surgeon,
thalmia had experienced the relief170	The Wild Elephant.
his keeper, and knelt down at the accustomed word of
command, so as to bring his forehead within view of the
rifles.1
The working elephant is always a delicate animal,
and requires watchfulness and care. As a beast of
burden it is unsatisfactory; for although in point of
mere strength there is scarcely any weight which could
be conveniently placed on it that it could not carry, it
is difficult to pack the load without causing abrasions
that afterwards ulcerate. The skin is easily chafed by
harness, especially in wet weather. During either long
droughts or too much moisture, an elephant’s feet
become liable to sores, that render it non-effective for
months. Many attempts have been made to provide
some protection for the sole of the foot, but from the
extreme weight and the peculiar mode of planting the
foot, they have all been unsuccessful. The eyes are also
liable to frequent inflammations, and the skill of the
native elephant-doctors, which has been renowned since
the time of ^Elian, is nowhere more strikingly displayed
than in the successful treatment of such attacks.2 In
Ceylon, the murrain among the cattle is of frequent
occurrence, and carries off great numbers of animals,
wild as well as tame. In such visitations the elephants
suffer severely, not only those at liberty in the forest, but
those carefully tended in the Government stables. Out of
a stud of about 40 attached to the department of the
Commission of Roads, the deaths between 1841 and
1 A shocking account of the death of Every-Day Book, March 1830, p. 337.
this poor animal is given in Hone's 2 ./Elian, lib. xiii. c. 7.Diseases.
171
1849 were on an average four in each year, and this was
nearly doubled in those years when murrain prevailed.
Of 240 elephants, employed in the public departments
of the Ceylon Government, which died in twentj^ive
years, from 1831 to 1856, the length of time that each
lived in captivity has only been recorded in the instances
of 138. Of these there died :—
Duration of Captivity							No.	Male	Female
Under 1		year		.			72	29	43
From	I	to	2 years				14	5	9
n	2	11	3	11			8	5	3
11	3	11	4	11			8	3	5
n	4	11	5	11			3	2	1
n	5	11	6	11			2	2	. i
n	6	11	7	11			3	I	2 f
11	7	11	8	11			5	2	3 !
11	8	11	9	11			5	5	. :
n	9	11	10	11			2	2	i
n	10	11	11	11			2	2	i
n	11	11	12	11			3	1	2 i
n	12	11	13	11			3	•	3
n	13	11	H	11			•	•	
n	14	11	15	11			3	1	2
V	15	11	16	11.			1	1	
11	16	11	17	11			1	.	1
11	17	11	18	11			*	•	. i
11	18	11	19	11			2	1	1
11	l9	11	20	11			1		1
				Total		* i	138	62	76
Of the 72 who died in one year’s servitude, 35 ex-
pired within the first six months of their captivity.
During training, many elephants die in the unaccount-
able manner already referred to, of what the natives
designate a broken heart.172
The Wild Elephant.
On being first subjected to work, the elephant is
liable to severe and often fatal swellings of the jaws
and abdomen.1
From these causes there died, between 1841 and 1849	.	.	9
Of cattle murrain .	.	................................10
Sore feet ........... I
Colds and inflammation....................6
Diarrhoea.................................1
Worms.....................................1
Of diseased liver.........................1
Injuries from a fall......................1
General debility..........................1
Unknown causes............................3
Of the entire, twenty-three were females and eleven
males.
The ages of those that died could not be accurately
stated, owing to the circumstance of their having been
captured in corral. Two only were tuskers. Towards
keeping the stud in health, nothing has been found so
conducive as regularly bathing the elephants, and
giving them the opportunity to stand with their feet in
water, or in moistened earth.
Elephants are said to be afflicted with tooth-ache;
their tushes have likewise been found with symptoms of
internal perforation by some parasite, and the natives
assert that, in their agony, the animals have been known
to break them off short.2 I have never heard of the
teeth themselves being so affected, and it is just pos-
sible that the operation of shedding and the subsequent
1 The elephant which was dissected disease : its skin in some places became
by Dr. Harrison of Dublin, in 1847, almost scarlet.”
died of a febrile attack, after four or 2 See a paper, entitled 11 Recollections
five days’ illness, which, as Dr. H. of Ceylon,” in Fraser's Magazine for
tells me in a private letter, was “very December i860,
like scarlatina, at that time a prevailingi73
decay of the milk-tushes, may have in some instances
been accompanied by incidents that gave rise to this
story. At the same time the probabilities are in favour
of its being true. Cuvier committed himself to the
statement that the tusks of the elephant have no attach-
ments to connect them with the pulp lodged in the
cavity at their base, from which the peculiar modification
of dentine, known as “ ivory ” is secreted ;1 and hence,
by inference, that they would be devoid of sensation.
But independently of the fact that ivory is permeated
by tubes so fine that at their origin from the pulpy
cavity they do not exceed the	part of an inch in
diameter, Owen had the tusk and pulp of the great
elephant which died at the Zoological Gardens in
London in 1847 longitudinally divided, and found that,
“ although the pulp could be easily detached from the
inner surface of the cavity, it was not without a certain
resistance; and when the edges of the co-adapted pulp
and tusk were examined by a strong lens, the filament-
ary processes from the outer surface of the former
could be seen stretching, as they were drawn from the
dentinal tubes, before they broke. These filaments are
so minute, he adds, that to the naked eye the detached
surface of the pulp seems to be entire; and hence
Cuvier was deceived into supposing that there was no
organic connexion between the pulp and the ivory. But
if, as there seems no reason to doubt, these delicate
1 Annales duMuseum, F. viii. 1805. Todd’s Cyclop, of Anatomy, etc. vol.
p. 94, and Ossemens Fossiles, quoted by	iv. p. 929.
Owen, in the article on “ Teeth,” ini74
The Wild Elephant.
nervous processes traverse the tusk by means of the
numerous tubes already described, if attacked by caries
the pain occasioned to the elephant would be excruciating.
As to maintaining a stud of elephants for the purposes
to which they are now assigned in Ceylon, there may
be a question on the score of prudence and economy.
In the wild and unopened parts of the country, where
rivers are to be forded, and forests are only traversed
by jungle paths, their labour is of value, in certain
contingencies, in the conveyance of stores, and in the
earlier operations for the construction of fords and
rough bridges of timber. But in more highly civilised
districts, and wherever macadamised roads admit of the
employment of horses and oxen for draught, I appre-
hend that the services of the elephant might, with ad-
vantage, be gradually reduced, if not altogether dispensed
with.
The love of the elephant for coolness and shade
renders it at all times more or less impatient of work
in the sun, and every moment of leisure it can snatch
is employed in covering its back with dust, or fanning
itself to diminish the annoyance of the insects and heat.
From the tenderness of the skin and its liability to sores,
the labour in which the elephant can most advantageously
be employed is that of draught; but the reluctance of
horses to meet or pass them renders it difficult to work
them with safety on frequented roads. Besides, were
the full load which an elephant is capable of drawing,
proportionally to its muscular strength, to be placed
upon waggons of corresponding dimension, the injury toValue.
175
roads from the extra weight would be such that the wear
and tear of the highways and bridges would prove too
costly to be borne. On the other hand, by restricting it
to a somewhat more manageable quantity, and by limiting
the weight, as at present, to about one ton and a half,
it is doubtful whether an elephant performs so much
more work than could be done by a horse or by bullocks,
as to compensate for the greater cost of his feeding and
attendance.
Add to this, that from accidents and other causes,
from ulcerations of the skin, and illnesses of many kinds,
the elephant is so often invalided, that the actual cost
of its labour, when at work, is very considerably en-
hanced. Exclusive of the salaries of higher officers
attached to the Government establishments, and other
permanent charges, the expenses of an elephant, looking
only to the wages of its attendants and the cost of its
food and medicines, varies from three shillings to four
shillings and sixpence per diem, according to its size and
class.1 Taking the average at three shillings and nine-
1 An ordinary-sized elephant en-
grosses the undivided attention of three
men. One, as his mahout or superin-
tendent, and two as leaf-cutters, who
bring him branches and grass for his
daily supplies. An animal of larger
growth would probably require a third
leaf-cutter. The daily consumption is
two cwt. of green food with about half
a bushel of grain. When in the vi-
cinity of towns and villages, the atten-
dants have no difficulty in procuring an
abundant supply of the branches of the
trees to which elephants are partial;
and in journeys through the forests and
unopened country, the leaf-cutters are
sufficiently expert in the knowledge of
those particular plants with which the
elephant is satisfied. Those that would
be likely to disagree with him he un-
erringly rejects. His favourites are the
palms, especially the cluster of rich,
unopened leaves, known as the “ cab-
bage,” of the coco-nut and areca; and
he delights to tear open the young
trunks of the palmyra and jaggery
(Caryota nrens) in search of the farina-
ceous matter contained in the spongy
pith. Next to these come the varieties
of fig-trees, particularly the sacred Bo176
The Wild Elephant.
pence, and calculating that hardly any individual works
more than four days out of seven, the charge for each
day so employed would amount to six shillings and six-
pence. The keep per day of a powerful dray-horse,
working five days in the week, would not exceed half-a-
crown, and two such would unquestionably do more
work than any elephant under the present system. I
do not know whether it be from a comparative calcula-
tion of this kind that the strength of the elephant es-
tablishments in Ceylon has been gradually diminished
of late years, but in the department of the Commis-
sioner of Roads, the stud, which formerly numbered
upwards of sixty elephants, was reduced, some years
ago, to thirty-six, and is at present less than half that
number.
The fallacy of the supposed reluctance of the elephant
to breed in captivity has been demonstrated by many
recent authorities ; but with the exception of the birth
of young elephants at Rome, as mentioned by ^lian,
{F. religiosa) which is found near every
temple, and the na gaha (Messua/er-
red) y with thick dark leaves and a scar-
let flower. The leaves of the jak-tree
and bread-fruit \Ar to carpus integri-
folia, and A. incisa), the wood apple
{sEgle Marmelos), Palu (Mimusops
Indica), and a number of others well
known to their attendants, are all con-
sumed in turn. The stems of the plain-
tain, the stalks of the sugar-cane, and
the feathery tops of the bamboos, are
irresistible luxuries. Pine-apples, water-
melons, and fruits of every description,
are voraciously devoured, and a coco-
nut when found is first rolled under
foot to detach it from the husk and
fibre, and then raised in his trunk and
crushed almost without an effort, by
his ponderous jaws.
The grasses are not found in suffi-
cient quantity to be an item of daily
fodder; the Mauritius or the Guinea
grass is seized with avidity; lemon
grass is rejected from its overpowering
perfume, but rice in the straw, and
every description of grain, whether
growing or dry; gram (Cicer arieti-
num), Indian com, and millet, are his
natural food. Of such of these as can
be found, it is the duty of the leaf-
cutters, when in the jungle and on
march, to provide a daily supply.Duration of Life.	177
the only instances that I am aware of their actually pro-
ducing young under such circumstances, took place in
Ceylon. Both parents had been for several years at-
tached to the stud of the Commissioner of Roads, and
in 1844 the female, whilst engaged in dragging a waggon,
gave birth to a still-born calf. Some years before, an
elephant that had been captured by Mr. Cripps, dropped
a female calf, which he succeeded in rearing. As usual,
the little one became the pet of the keepers; but as it
increased in growth, it exhibited the utmost violence
when thwarted; striking out with its hind-feet, throwing
itself headlong on the ground, and pressing its trunk
against any opposing object.
The duration of life in the elephant has been from the
remotest times a matter of uncertainty and speculation.
Aristotle says it was reputed to live from two to three
hundred years,1 and modern zoologists have assigned to
it an age very little less; Cuvier 2 allots two hundred
and De Blainville3 one hundred and twenty. The
only attempt which I know of to establish a period his-
torically or physiologically is that of Fleurens, who has
advanced an ingenious theory on the subject in his
treatise “De la Longevite Humaine” He assumes the
sum total of life in all animals to be equivalent to five
times the number of years requisite to perfect their
growth and development;—and he adopts as evidence
of the period at which growth ceases, the final consoli-
dation of the bones with their epiphyses; which in the
1 Aristotelesde Anim. 1. viii. c. 9.	3 Osteographie, “Eleph.” p. 74.
a Minag. de Mus. Nat. p. 107.
N178	The Wild Elephant.
young consist of cartilages; but in the adult become
uniformly osseous and solid. So long as the epiphyses
are distinct from the bones, the growth of the animal
is proceeding, but it ceases so soon as the consolidation
is complete. In man, according to Fleurens, this con-
summation takes place at 20 years of age, in the horse
at 5, in the dog at 2; so that conformably to this theory
the respective normal age for each would be 100 years
for man, 25 for the horse, and 10 for a dog. As a datum
for his conclusion, Fleurens cites the instance of one
young elephant in which, at 26 years old, the epiphyses
were still distinct, whereas in another, which died at 31,
they were firm and adherent. Hence he draws the in-
ference that the period of completed solidification is
thirty years, and consequently that the normal age of the
elephant is one hundred and Jifty.1
Amongst the Singhalese the ancient fable of the
elephant attaining to the age of two or three hundred
years still prevails; but the Europeans, and those in im-
mediate charge of tame ones, entertain the opinion that
the duration of life for about seventy years is common
both to man and the elephant; and that before the ar-
rival of the latter period, symptoms of debility and decay
ordinarily begin to manifest themselves. Still instances
are not wanting in Ceylon of trained decoys that have
lived for more than double the reputed period in actual
servitude. One employed by Mr. Cripps in the Seven
Kories was represented by the cooroowe people to have
served the king of Kandy in the same capacity sixty
1 Fleurens, De la LongSvite Humaine, pp. 82, 89.179
Great Age.
years before; and amongst the papers left by Colonel
Robertson (son to the historian of “ Charles V.”), who
held a command in Ceylon in 1799, shortly after the
capture of the island by the British, I have found a
memorandum showing that a decoy was then attached to
the elephant establishment at Matura, which the records
proved to have served under the Dutch during the entire
period of their occupation (extending to upwards of one
hundred and forty years); and it was said to have been
found in the stables by the Dutch on the expulsion of
the Portuguese in 1656.
It is perhaps from this popular belief in their almost
illimitable age, that the natives generally assert that the
body of a dead elephant is seldom or never to be dis-
covered in the woods. And certain it is that frequenters
of the forest with whom I have conversed, whether
European or Singhalese, are consistent in their assur-
ances that they have never found the remains of an
elephant that had died a natural death. One chief, the
Wannyah of the Trincomalie district, told a friend of
mine, that once after a severe murrain, which had swept
the province, he found the carcasses of elephants that
had died of the disease. On the other hand, a European
gentleman, who for thirty-six years without intermission
has been living in the jungle, ascending to the summits
of mountains in the prosecution of the trigonometrical
survey, and penetrating valleys in tracing roads and
opening means of communication,—one, too, who has
made the habits of the wild elephant a subject of con-
stant observation and study,—has often expressed to me180	The Wild Elephant.
his astonishment that after seeing many thousands of
living elephants in all possible situations, he had never
yet found a single skeleton of a dead one, except of those
which had fallen by the rifle.1
It has been suggested that the bones of the elephant
may be so porous and spongy as to disappear in con-
sequence of an early decomposition; but this remark
would not apply to the grinders or to the tusks; besides
which, the inference is at variance with the fact, that not
only the horns and teeth, but entire skeletons of deer,
are frequently found in the districts inhabited by the
elephant.
The natives, to account for this popular belief, declare
that the survivors of the herd bury such of their com-
panions as die a natural death.2 It is curious that this
belief was current also amongst the Greeks of the Lower
Empire; and Phile, writing early in the fourteenth
century, not only describes the younger elephants as
tending the wounded, but as burying the dead :
wOray S’ imarf} rrjs r€\€vrrjs 6 xp&os
Koivov t4\ous tifivvai/ 6 ^4vos <f>€p€i*
1	This remark regarding the elephant
of Ceylon does not appear to extend to
that of Africa, as I observe that Bea-
ver, in his African Memoranda, says
that “ the skeletons of old ones that have
died in the woods are frequently found.”
(.African Memoranda relative to an
attempt to establish British Settle-
ments at the Island of Bulama.
Lond. 1815, p. 353.)
2	A corral was organised near Put-
lam in 1846, by Mr. Morris, the chief
officer of the district. It was con-
structed across one of the paths to which
the elephants resort in their frequent
marches, and during the course of the
proceedings two of the captured ele-
phants died. Their carcases were left
of course within the enclosure, which
was abandoned as soon as the capture
was complete. The wild elephants re-
sumed their path through it, and a few
days afterwards the headman reported
to Mr. Morris that the bodies had been
removed and carried outside the corral
to a spot to which nothing but the ele-
phants could have borne them.
3	Expositio de Eleph. 1. 243.Valley of Death.	181
The Singhalese have a further superstition in relation
to the close of life in the elephant: they believe that, on
feeling the approach of dissolution, he repairs to a solitary
valley, and there resigns himself to death. A native
who accompanied Mr. Cripps, when hunting, in the
forests of Anarajapoora, intimated to him that he was
then in the immediate vicinity of the spot “to which
the elephants come to die,” but that it was so mysteriously
concealed, that although every one believed in its exist-
ence, no one had ever succeeded in penetrating to it.
At the corral which I have described at Kornegalle, in
1847, Uehigame, one of the Kandyan chiefs, assured me
it was the universal belief of his countrymen, that the
elephants, when about to die, resorted to a valley in
SafFragam, among the mountains to the east of Adam’s
Peak, which was reached by a narrow pass with walls
of rock on either side, and that there, by the side of a
lake of clear water, they took their last repose.1 It was
not without interest that I afterwards recognised this
tradition in the story of Sinbad of the Sea, who in his
Seventh Voyage, after conveying the presents of Haroun
al Raschid to the king of Serendib, is wrecked on his
return from Ceylon, and sold as a slave to a master who
employs him in shooting elephants for the sake of their
1 The selection by animals of a place with their bones: on one such spot I
to die, is not confined to the elephant. counted between ten and twenty heads.”
Darwin says, that in South America —Nat. Voy. ch. viii. The same has
“theguanacos (llamas) appear to have been remarked in the Rio Gallegos;
favourite spots for lying down to die; and at St. Jago in the Cape de Verde
on the banks of the Santa Cruz river, Islands, Darwin saw a retired corner
in certain circumscribed spaces which similarly covered with the bones of the
were generally bushy and all near the goat, as if it were “the burial-ground
water, the ground was actually white of all the goats in the island.”182
The Wild Elephant.
ivory; till one day the tree on which he was stationed
having been uprooted by one of the herd, he fell sense-
less to the ground, and the great elephant approaching
wound his trunk around him and carried him away,
ceasing not to proceed until he had taken him to a place
where, his terror having subsided, he found himself
amongst the bones of elephants, and knew that this was
their burial place.1 It is curious to find this legend of
Ceylon in what has, not inaptly, been described as the
“Arabian Odyssey” of Sinbad ; the original of which
evidently embodies the romantic recitals of the sailors
returning from the navigation of the Indian Seas, in the
middle ages,1 2 which were current amongst the Mussul-
mans, and are reproduced in various forms throughout
the tales of the Arabian Nights.
1 Arabian Nights’ E71 tertainnient, in the introduction prefixed to his trans-
LANE’s edition, vol. iii. p. 77.	lation of the Arabian Geography 0/
a See a disquisition on the origin of Aboulfeda, vol. i. p. Ixxvi.
the story of Sinbad, by M. Reinaud,APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III.
As ALlian’s work on the Nature of Animals has never, I
believe, been republished in any English version, and the
passage in relation to the training and performance of
elephants is so pertinent to the present inquiry, I venture to
subjoin a translation of the nth chapter of his 2nd book.
“ Of the cleverness of the elephant I have spoken elsewhere,
and likewise of the manner of hunting. I have mentioned
these things, a few out of the many which others have stated;
but for the present I purpose to speak of their musical feeling,
their tractability, and facility in learning what it is difficult
for even a human being to acquire, much less a beast, hitherto
so wild:—such as to dance, as is done on the stage; to walk
with a measured gait; to listen to the melody of the flute and
to perceive the difference of sounds, that, being pitched low
lead to a slow movement, or high to a quick one; all this the
elephant learns and understands, and is accurate withal,
and makes no mistake. Thus has Nature formed him not
only the greatest in size, but the most gentle and the most
easily taught. Now if I were going to write about the
tractability and aptitude to learn amongst those of India,
^Ethiopia, and Libya, I should probably appear to be con-
cocting a tale and acting the braggart, or to be telling a
falsehood respecting the nature of the animal founded on a184	The Wild Elephant.
mere report, all which it behoves a philosopher, and most of
all one who is an ardent lover of truth, not to do. But what
I have seen myself, and what others have described as having
occurred at Rome, this I have chosen to relate, selecting a few
facts out of many, to show the particular nature of those
creatures. The elephant when tamed is an animal most
gentle and most easily led to do whatever he is directed.
And by way of showing honour to time, I will first narrate
events of the oldest date. Caesar Germanicus, the nephew of
Tiberius, exhibited once a public show, wherein there were
many full-grown elephants, male and female, and some of
their breed born in this country. When their limbs were
beginning to become firm, a person familiar with such animals
instructed them by a strange and surpassing method of
teaching ; using only gentleness and kindness, and adding to
his mild lessons the bait of pleasant and varied food. By
this means he led them by degrees to throw off all wildness,
and, as it were, to desert to a state of civilisation, conducting
themselves in a manner almost human. He taught them
neither to be excited on hearing the pipe, nor to be disturbed
by the beat of drum, but to be soothed by the sounds of
the reed, and to endure unmusical noises and the clatter of
feet from persons while marching; and they were trained to
feel no fear of a mass of men, nor to be enraged at the
infliction of blows, not even when compelled to twist their
limbs and tp bend them like a stage dancer, and this too
although endowed with strength and might. And there is in
this a very noble addition to nature, not to conduct themselves
in a disorderly manner and disobediently towards the instruc-
tions of man; for after the dancing-master had made them
expert, and they had learnt their lessons accurately, they did
not belie the labour of his instruction whenever a necessity
and opportunity called upon them to exhibit what they hadLilian.
185
been taught. For the whole troop came forward from this
and that side of the theatre, and divided themselves into
parties ; they advanced walking with a mincing gait and
exhibiting in their whole body and persons the manners of a
beau, clothed in the flowery dresses of dancers; and on the
ballet-master giving a signal with his voice, they fell into line
and went round in a circle, and if it were requisite to deploy
they did so. They ornamented the floor of the stage by
throwing flowers upon it, and this they did in moderation
and sparingly, and straightway they beat a measure with
their feet and kept time together.
“ Now that Damon and Spintharus and Aristoxenus and
Xenophilus and Philoxenus and others should know music
excellently well, and for their cleverness be ranked amongst
the few, is indeed a thing of wonder, but not incredible nor
contrary at all to reason. For this reason, that a man is a
rational animal, and the recipient of mind and intelligence.
But that a jointless animal (dvapQpov) should understand
rhythm and melody, and preserve a gesture, and not deviate
from a measured movement, and fulfil the requirements of
those who laid down instructions, these are gifts of nature, I
think, and a peculiarity in every way astounding. Added to
these there were things enough to drive the spectator out of
his senses; when the strewn rushes and other materials for
beds on the ground were placed on the sand of the theatre,
and they received stuffed mattresses such as belonged to rich
houses, and variegated bed-coverings, and goblets were placed
there very expensive, and bowls of gold and silver, and in
them a great quantity of water; and tables were placed there
of sweet-smelling wood and ivory very superb : and upon them
flesh meats and loaves enough to fill the stomachs of animals
the most voracious. When the preparations were completed
and abundant, the banqueters came forward, six male and ani86
The Wild Elephant.
equal number of female elephants ; the former had on a male
dress and the latter a female; and oh a signal being given
they stretched forward their trunks in a subdued manner, and
took their food in great moderation, and not one of them ap-
peared to be gluttonous greedy, or to snatch at a greater por-
tion, as did the Persian mentioned by Xenophon. And when
it was requisite to drink, a bowl was placed by the side of
each ; and inhaling with their trunks they took a draught
very orderly; and then they scattered the drink about in fun;
but not as in insult. Many other acts of a similar kind, both
clever and astonishing, have persons described, relating to the
peculiarities of these animals, and I saw them writing letters
on Roman tablets with their trunks, neither looking awry nor
turning aside. The hand, however, of the teacher was placed
so as to be a guide in the formation of the letters; and while
it was writing the animal kept its eye fixed down in an
accomplished and scholarlike manner.”i87
INDEX.
ADA
ADAM’S PEAK, ascent of by
elephants, page 41
—, encounter with wild elephants
near, 77
Adventures with elephants, 71
^Elian, account of the export of
elephants from Ceylon, 5 n.
— his fallacy as to the elephant
shedding his tusks, 7 n.
— alleged antipathy of the ele-
phant and rhinoceros, 9, 15
— his account of training, 151
— error as to the elephant being
without joints, 34, 35 n.
— says elephants were trained to
kill by their knees, 16 n.
— on the supposed superiority of
the Ceylon to the Indian ele-
phant, 152 n.
— elephant, love of music, 168 n.
— elephants performing at Rome,
168 «., 183
Aetagalla Rock, legend of, 107
Affection for their young, 47
African elephant teeth different
from Indian, vi.
— ribs and vertebrae, vi. vii. 20
— both sexes have tusks, 6
— ivory preferred to Ceylon in
Europe, 6 n.
— conjecture respecting tusks, 7
— great size of tusks ; 300 lbs,
and upwards, 7, 8
ANT
African elephant is not vulnerable
in the forehead, as the Ceylon
elephant is, page 8i
Age of elephants, 123, 177
—	estimated duration of life in,
l77
Airavanta, Sanscrit, origin of the
word elephant, 4 n.
Alee. See Elk, 33
Alexandri Epistola ad Aristotelem,
11
Alexander the Great, his Indian
expedition, 150
—	coins of, 151 n.
Alisaunder, English romance of,
12	n.
Allia. See Hora allia, 82. See
Rogue
Alligator River, elephant hunt at,
106
Anarajapoora, instinct exhibited
by elephants at, 65
Anatomy of the elephant im-
perfectly known, 56
—	account of by Molyneux, A. D.
1696, 56 n.
Ansted, Prof., on the height of
elephants, 31 n.
Antipater brought the first Indian
elephant to Greece, 150
Antipathy of elephants to other
animals, 12, 15
—• its improbability, 15188
Index.
ANT
Ants, superior to the elephant in
sagacity, 68
—	their marvellous power of dis-
covering sugar, 139 n.
Arabian Nights, story of the burial
place of dead elephants, 182
apicTi. See Hendoo, 156 n.
Aristotle, on the trunk of the ele-
phant, 28 n.
—	on the fallacy of the elephant
having no joints, 33
—	on the double stomach of the
elephant, 57 n.
—	on its mode of levelling trees,
140 n.
Armandi, error as to the height
of Ceylon elephant, 31 n.
—	on the double stomach of, 67 n.
—	on elephants in war, 151
Ar-ri, sound to guide elephants,
167 n.
—	its variations in various coun-
tries, ib.
Arundel MSS., errors as to the
elephant, 36
Assam, elephant of, x.
Avisavelle, elephant corral at, 43
BADULLA, fight between two
elephants at, 16
— adventures with elephants near,
7h 74
Baker, Sir Samuel, on the
weight of African ivory, 8 n.
— his stories of elephant shooting,
77 n.
— on the difference between the
Ceylon and African species, 20 n.
— on power to uproot trees, 162 n.
— on the size of the elephant’s
foot in Africa, 98 n.
Barbezieux, Richard de, error
as to joints of elephant, 37
Bari, size of African ivory at, 8 n.
Bathing elephants, story of, 51,
55 *•
BUF
Ben ARY, his theory of the deriva-
tion of the word elephant, 4 n.
Bengal, elephants of, viii.
—	method of poisoning them, 6
—	mode of capturing them, 104
Bentinck, Baron, communication
from, viii. ix.
Bernier, as to the supposed su-
periority of the Ceylon elephant
to that of India, 152
“ Bestiaries ” of the Middle Ages,
in error as to the joints of the ele-
phant, 36
Birmah, method of capturing ele-
phants in, 97
Bison, its instinct as to harvest
time, 64
Blair, Dr., on the anatomy of
the elephant, 56 n.
Bles, M., affection of elephants
for their young, 47. See Buffon
—	on training elephants, 159 n.
Bo-trees, sacred; eaten by ele-
phants, iii.
Bochart, derivation of the word
elephant, 4 n.
Bonaparte, Prince Lucien,
his account of the Sumatran ele-
phant, vi.
Breeding in captivity, fallacy as to,
176
Broderip, on the mode of train-
ing, 155
—	on the size of tusks in elephants,
8 n.
—	on the stomach of, 56
Brooke, Sir Victor, Bart., great
elephant shot by, 9 n.
—	immense tusk, 16
Browne, Sir Thomas, Vulgar
Errors, exposes the delusion as
to there being no joints in the ele-
phant, 32, 38
BUchanan, on rogue elephants,
49 n.
Buffalo, double stomach of, 63
Buffon. See BlesIndex.
CRI
189
BUF
Buffon, on the double stomach
of the elephant, 57 n.
— on training, 159 n.
Burial place of the elephants, as
told in the story of Sinbad of the
Sea, 181
Burying their dead, alleged habit
of elephants, 180
CAESAR, his story of the alce>
33
Cambodia, method of training ele-
phants in, 157
Camel, alleged antipathy of the
elephant to, 13
— cellular stomach, 60
Camper, on the double stomach
of the elephant, 58
Captivity, conduct of elephants
when first taken, 150
Carthaginians employed elephants
in war, 151
Caution of elephants as to pit-falls
alleged, but doubtful, 67
Ceylon, geological formation of
the island, vi.
— export of elephants to India,
viii. 5
— profuse number of elephants
in, 5
— cause of declining numbers, 6
Charlemagne, elephant sent to by
Haroun Alraschid, 35
Chena cultivation, 64
China, Ceylon ivory preferred for
carving, 62
Chittagong, elephant of, x.
Chuny, the tame elephant killed
at Exeter Change, its cruel
death, 169
Climbing, ability of the elephant
in, 41
Cochin China, elephant of, xi.
Cockayne. See Alexandri Epi-
stola, etc., II
Coco-nut, how eaten by an ele-
phant, 64
Coleridge, on the sagacity of
the elephant, 68
Colombo frequented by elephants
in 1705 A.D., 5
Combe, on the brain of the ele-
phant, 86
Cooroowe. See Noosers, 122, 155
Coroners’ inquests show few
deaths by elephants, 10
Corral or Kraal, operations of, 95
—	in Bengal, how constructed.
See Keddah, 104
—	dimensions, 113
—	form of, 112
—	its strength, 114
—	the drive of the elephants, 115
—	the rush and return, 116
—	singular night scene, 117
—	the capture made, 118
—	noosed and secured, 121
—	distress of the captives, and their
struggles, 125, 135
—	terror of the elephants for
white rods, 128
—	noticed by Pliny, 128, n.
—	conduct of the young ones, 137
—	extraordinary scene, 140
—	interesting demeanour of the
captives, 140
—	a second herd driven in and
taken, 143
—	leading out the captives, 147
Corse, his account of the Indian
elephant, 47
Cosmas Indicopleustes, his ac-
count of the export of elephants
from Ceylon, 5 n.
Courage in open ground, 86, 87
Cripps, Mr., description of a
strange sound made by ele-
phants, 29
—	story of an elephant feigning
death, 70
—	on the taming and training of
elephants, 158
—	on their attachment to atten-
dants, 166Index.
ELE
I9O
CRI
Cripps, Mr., on elephants breed-
ing in captivity, 177
Cruelties in elephant shooting, 7 7n.
Ctesias, fallacy that the elephant
has no joints, 33
Cumming, Mr. Gordon, his cruel
experiments on the vital endur-
ance of the elephant, 81 n.
—	questionable stories of trees up-
rooted by elephants, 162 n.
Curiosity, spirit of, strong in the
elephant, 67
—	story of Colonel Hardy, 67
Cuspis. See Hendoo, 156 n.
Cuttack, elephant of, x.
—	method of poisoning elephants
in, 6
Cuvier, on the comparative saga-
city of the elephant, 68
—	on the tusks of elephants, 173
—	on duration of life in, 177
T\AH! DAH! word hateful to
wild elephant, 100
Dakra, a poison for elephants in
Bengal, 6
Darwin, on the burial place of
llamas and goats, 101 n.
Davy, Dr., on endurance of pain
in the elephant, 168
— on the spirit of curiosity in the
elephant, 67
Dawson, Capt., an elephant shot
by, dies standing, 39
De Blainville, on the dura-
tion of life in the elephant, 177
De Bry, story of a horse killed by
a trained elephant, 13
Dead elephant, body rarely found,
179
Deafness occasionaljin elephants, 30
Death feigned by an elephant, 70
Decoy elephants, their conduct,
119, 123, 134
Defenses. See Tusks, 9
Dekkan, elephant of the, xi.
De Lima, General, immense tusks
got by, in Africa, 8 n.
Denham, Major, on the height
of an African elephant, 31
Denman, Major, power of ele-
phant to overthrow trees, 162 n.
Descending acclivities, mode of, 44
Dentine, 173. See Ivory
Dicuil, description of the ele-
phant of Charlemagne, 35
Dinka, size of African ivory at, 8,
12
Diodorus Siculus, on the saga-
city of the Indian elephant, 150
Dogs, elephants impatient of, 14
—	Major Skinner’s dog, kept off
the elephants by its bark, 15
—	superior in sagacity to the ele-
phant, 69
Donne, his error as to the joints
of the elephant, 38
Dublin, elephant burnt to death,
26 n.
“ Duipa,” an Indian name of the
elephant, its signification, 62 n.
Dust, habit of throwing it over
themselves, 133
Dutch possessions in India, vi.
See Temminck
—	elephant hunts conducted by,
95
EAR, formation of, 167
— love of music, 168 n.
— Sir Everard Home, on hearing
in the elephant, 167
Ebony, logs piled by elephants,
164
“ Eleph,” Hebrew, conjectured to
be the root of elepha^, 4 n.
“ Elephant,” derivation of the
word, 4 n.
— conjectures of Pictet, Bochart,
Pott, and Benary, 4 n.
— great numbers in Ceylon, 5Index.
191
ELE
Elephant, will ere long be extinct
in India, 6 n.
—	alleged enmity to man, and
other animals, 10
—	signs of perfection in. See
Hastisilpe, 21
—	natural colour of the skin, 22
—	loves shade, 25
—	scene, by night while bathing,
52
—	stomach of the elephant double,
56
—	the Ceylon elephant supposed
to exceed that of India in saga-
city, 152
Elephant, the first brought to
Greece by Antipater, 150
Elephant shooting. See Shooting
4k4(f>as signified not the elephant,
but its ivory, 4 n.
—	Benary’s derivation of the word,
66
Elephas Sumatranus. See Suma-
tra, vi.
—	supposed to differ from the ele-
phant of India, vii.
—	this theory doubted by Dr. Fal-
coner, ix.
Elk, error of Caesar in saying that
the “alee ” has no joints, 33
Englishman, Voyage of a certain,
story of an elephant killing a
horse, 13 n.
Evelyn, John, refutes the fallacy
that the elephant has no joints,
33
Eye of the elephant small, 26, ib. n.
—	its accuracy when engaged in
working, 261
FAIRHOLME on the elephant,
159 rc.
Falconer, Dr., doubts the alleged
d ifference between the elephants
of Sumatra and India, ix.
— on the height of elephants,
31 n.
GUI
Fanning themselves, habit of, 84
—	extreme grace of the movement,
136
—	in the corral, 135
Feet, habit of swinging, 84
—	not, as supposed, a substitute for
exercise, 85
Females in a herd, numerous, 47
Fences, elephant’s dread of, 65
Filsben, Danish for ivory, 4 n.
Flesh of the elephant coarse, 88
Fleurens, on the duration of life
in the elephant, 177
Flies, their marvellous faculty of
discerning carrion, 139 n.
—	account of their hurrying to
death-beds, 139 n.
Food of the elephant when wild,
63
—	when tamed and trained, 175
Foot, a frequent seat of disease,
170
—	its extreme sensitiveness, 133
—	of the elephant makes good
soup, 89
—	twice its circumference equal to
the height of the animal, 98 n.
Forbes, ancedote from his Orien-
tal Memoirs, 107 n.
Forehead of the elephant, wound
in, fatal, 80
Fossil elephant, 159 n.
Fretz, Gerard, frightful wound, 90
GADJAH. See Sumatran ele-
phant, vi.
Gallwey, Capt. P. Payne, number
of elephants shot by him, 77 n.
Geological formation of Ceylon,
vi.
“ Goondah.” See Rogue, 48
Gooneratne Modliar, his deriva-
tion for the word elephant, 5 n.
Guillim, heraldry of the ele-
phant, 38 n.192
Index.
hai
AIRY elephants, 159 n.
Hardy, Colonel, story of,
69
Haroun, Alraschid, sends an ele-
phant to Charlemagne, 35
rrison, Dr., on the anatomy
of the elephant, 26 n., 57 n.y
60, 61
—	on the structure of the head, 79
—	on the ear of the elephant, 167
Hastisilpe, a Singhalese work on
elephants, 17 «., 21
Hawkus. See Hendoo, 155
Head, wound in, fatal, 79
—	section of, 80
—	this fact noticed by Pliny, 79 n.
Hearing. See Ear
Heber, Bishop, describes a dimi-
nutive species of elephant, 159 n.
Hedges, dreaded by elephants, 67
Height, exaggerated estimates of,
in elephants, 30
Hendoo, used by the mahout, 155
Herd, the term described as ap-
plied to the elephant, 45
—	similarity of features in, 45
—	submissive to one leader, 50
—	their conventional association
and attachment, 45
Herodotus, account of the anti-
pathy of the elephant to the
camel, 13
—	veneration for white horses and
white oxen, 23
Himalayas, elephant paths on, 43
Hippopotamus, solitary indivi-
duals of, 49
Hodgson, Mr. B. H., his explo-
rations in Nepal, ix.
Hog, double stomach of, 58
Holland, Dr., on the physiology
of tusks, 17 n.
Home, Sir Everard, on the
double stomach of the elephant,
58
—	on the ear of the elephant, 166,
167
JAR
Home, Randal, his heraldry of
the elephant, 38
Hooker, Dr., elephants in the
Himalayas, 43
Hora. See Rogue, 47, 72
Horace, mentions a white ele-
phant at Rome, 24
Horse, alleged antipathy of the
elephant to, 12
—	instances in disproof of this, 13
—	killed by a trained elephant, 13
—	anecdote of the meeting of a
horse and an elephant, 19
—	structure of the shoulder joint,
41
IDLENESS, love of, in tame
elephants, 165
Indian elephant supposed to differ
from that of Sumatra, vi.
— comparative anatomy of, vii.
— varieties of the same species
in, x.
— elephant is dying out in India,
6 n.
Indicopleustes {see Cosmas), export
of elephants, 5
Ivory, annual importations of, 6 n.
— proportion from Ceylon, 6 n.
— of Ceylon preferred in China,
6 n.
— African preferred in Europe,
6 n.
— weight of, in various countries,
8 n.
— immense African tusks at Goa,
8 n.
— how formed. See Dentine, 173
JAFFNA, instinct shown by
elephants at, 64
Jardine, Sir William, fallacy as
to elephants shedding tusks,
7 n.Index.
193
JAV
Java, no elephants in the island, vi.
Joints, ancient error as to the ele-
phant having none, 32
— explanation of its origin, 38, 39
KANDY, the King of, held the
killing of an elephant a
criminal offence, 5
— his hunts for capturing ele-
phants, 96
Keddah. See Corral, 104
Kimbul-oya. See Alligator River,
106
Knox, his account of executions
by trained elephants, 17
— on the attachment of the herd to
the young, 47
— his accounts of elephant hunts
in Kandy
Kombook tree; lime extracted
from the bark, no
Korahl. See Corral.
Kories, the Seven, elephant hunts
in, 4
Komegalle, beauty of the place,
107
— its temple the resort of Budd-
hists, 108
— sacred footstep on the iock, 108
Kraal. See Corral
— derivation of the word, 105
Kurahl. See Corral
Kurminia-galla, 107 n.
Kurunoi-galla. See Kornegalle
LABOUR of tame elephants
too costly, 164, 174. See
Tame Elephants
Lampongs. See Sumatra, viii.
Leap, the elephant unable to, 40
— anecdote, doubtful, of an ele-
phant leaping, 41
Le Brun, his account of the ele-
phants in Ceylon, 5 n.
Leyden, elephants in Museum, x.
MAR
Life, duration of in the elephant,
*77. 178
Lightning, dreaded by elephants,
68
Lindsay, Mr., adventure with ele-
phants, 75
Livingstone, Dr., on the.solitary
hippopotamus, 49
Llama, double stomach of, 60 n.
Louis XIV., elephant belonging
to, 57
Loxodon. See Elephas Sumatra-
nus, vi.
Luca bos, Roman term for the
elephants of Pyrrhus, 4 n.
Ji/TACCABEES, story of Jews
killed by elephants, 16
154 ».
Machlis, an unknown animal, de-
scribed by Pliny, 33
M‘Gee, Dr., his account of flies
hurrying towards persons dying,
139 n.
Mahawanse, mention of a white
elephant in, 23
Mahout, elephant driver, the
power of discrimination in In-
dia, x.
—	conduct of the mahouts in a
corral, 129
—	mahouts said to die young, 166
Males, proportion of in a herd,
small, 47
Malta, small fossil elephant found
at, 159 n.
Man, elephant has no natural
antipathy to, 10
—	few deaths occasioned by them,
10
Manaar, singular scene on shipping
elephants for India, 102
—	described in a.d. 1701, 102
Marfil, Spanish name for ivory,
4 n.
—	See Mafirm, Portuguese, ib.
o194
Index.
MAR
Marfil, Palma de, the vegetable
ivory palm, 4 n.
Marfim, Portuguese for ivory, 4 n.
Massoudi, on the use of the
elephant in war, 159 n.
Matthew Paris, his error as to
the joints of the elephant, 36
Matura, elephants shipped from
for India, 103
Mercer, Mr. Graeme, story of a
fight between two elephants, 16
Metatarsus, shortness of, enables
the elephant to climb, 43
Molyneux, his anatomy of the
elephant, 56
Moormen of Ceylon, 97. See
Panickeas.
Morris, Mr., conducts the corral
in 1847, 109
Moulin, A., his letter to Sir
William Petty, 56 n.
‘ ‘ Mudda. ” See ‘ * Must, ” 11
Muddy water not objected to by
elephants, 55
Music, elephants’ love of, 168
“ Must,” term explained, 11
NOUAER, size of African ivory
at, 8 n.
Natives of Ceylon, their narra-
tives of accidents and adventures
with elephants, 71
Negombo, adventures with ele-
phants at, 75
Nepal-root, a poison for elephants,
6
Nepal, mode of capturing ele-
phants in, 97
Nile, White, enormous tusks got
near, 8 n. See Baker, Sir
Samuel
Noises produced by elephants, 27
Noosers. See Cooroowe, 122
■— their extraordinary courage, 136
Noosing elephants, as practised by
the Panickeas, 99
PHI
Noosing in a corral, operation
described, 122, 124
Numidia, Medal of, 156 «.
LFACTORY lobes, 26 n.
Optic nerve in the ele-
phant, 26 n.
Osteology of the elephant. See
Teeth, vi. x.
Owen, Prof., on the anatomy of the
elephant, 56	59, 6o, 62
— on the formation of ivory, 173
PAIN, patient endurance of,
168
Pallegoix, on the white elephant,
23 n.
— on sounds produced by ele-
phants, 30 n.
Palma de marfil, the vegetable
ivory palm, 4 n.
Panickeas, their marvellous skill
as trackers, 97
— their singular courage, 79
— their method of capturing wild
elephants, 99
— mode of taming after capture,
101
— their method of conducting
the captives to the coast, 101
Paris. See Matthew Paris.
Peccary, double stomach of, 58
Petherick, his account of large
ivory in Soudan, 8 n.
Phile, his error as to the joints of
the elephant, 35
— difficulty of the elephant in
rising, 30
— elephant does not object to
muddy water, 55 n.
— thinks the elephant hates the
pig, 117 «•
— on elephants as executioners,
154 n.
— elephant’s love of music, i68«.Index.
195
PHI
Phillipe, on the supposed supe-
riority of the Ceylon to the Indian
elephant, 152
Physiologus. See TheroALDUS,
36
Pictet, Prof., his essay on the
derivation of the word elephant,
4 n.
Pigs, antipathy of the elephant to.
See Swine, 14
—	spoil the capture at a corral,
116
Pingo, 71 n.
Pit-falls, elephants surprised in,
6? .
—	objections to, 96
Pliny, his fallacy as to the ele-
phant shedding his tusks, 7 n.
—	as to the antipathy of the ele-
phant to other animals, 15
—	error as to the joints of the ele-
phant, 32
—	the machlis, 33
—	terror of the elephant for white
rods, 128
—	mode of taming it, 151
—	belief that the elephant has two
hearts, 160
Poison for destroying elephants in
Bengal, 6
Polyhistor. See Solinus, 35
Ponnekella. See Mahout, 122
Portuguese, elephant hunts con-
ducted by, 95
—	origin of the word corral, 105
Pott, conjecture as to the deriva-
tion of the word “elephant,”
4 n.
Pringle, on power of elephant to
uproot trees, 162 n.
Provencal song-writers, errors as
to the elephant, 37
Pseudodoxia Epidemica. See Sir
Thomas Browne.
Ptolemy Philopater, employs ele-
phant to kill Jewish martyrs,
16 n.
RON
Punishments for tame elephants,
165
Puswael, a gigantic bean, 110
Pyrard, on the supposed supe-
riority of the elephant of Cey-
lon to that of India, 152
Pyrrhus, his elephants, 4 «., 150
RAIN, coming of foreseen by
the elephant, 69
Raja-Kariya, no. See Ripon.
Ramgur, method of poisoning ele-
phants in, 6
Ranghani, the nooser, 123
— his prowess and success, 127
Rate-mahat-meyas, encourage the
taking of elephants in corrals,
hi •
Reinaud, on the use of the ele-
phant in war, 154 n.
Repose, peaceful, of the elephant,
84
Retirement, love of, 85
Rhinoceros, alleged antipathy be-
tween and the elephant, 9
Ripon, Earl of, abolishes raja-
kariya, no
Rise, difficulty of the elephant to,
38.39
Rogers, Major, story of his horse
and the elephants, 13 n.
— elephant shot by him falls on
its knees, 39
— number killed by him, 77 n.
Rogue elephant, their origin and
habits, 46
— their vice and depredations, 49,
50, 82 n.
— captured in a corral, 138
— his death, 138
Rome, performance of elephants,
168	183
Ronkedor. See Rogue, 47 n.
Ronquedue. See Rogue, ib.196
SAG
Index.
AG AC IT Y of the elephant, its I
superiority questioned, 68
—	Indian elephant said to excel
the African in, 150
—	compared with that of the horse
and dog, 161
Saragossa, elephant fight, exhi-
bited, 10 n.
Schlegel, Prof., on the ele-
phant of Sumatra, viii.
—	doubts its distinctness from the
elephant of Ceylon, viii.-xi.
—	on the supposed superiority of
the Ceylon to the Indian ele-
phant, 152 n.
Serpents, in Ceylon, more acci-
dents from than from elephants,
10
Severac, Jordanus de, on the
mode of training elephants in
Cambodia, 157 ji.
Shakspeare, error as to the
joints of the elephant, 37
—	on capturing elephants in pit-
falls, 96 n.
Shaw, fallacy as to the elephant
shedding the tusks, 7 n.
Shilook, size of African ivory at, 83
Shooting elephants, 77
—	cruelties of, 77 n.
—	fatal spot in head, 79, and
ear, ib.
Siam, elephant of, xi.
—	sounds produced by, 30 n.
Sight, power of, 26
—	accuracy of eye when working,
162
Silhet, elephant of, x.
Sinbad of the Sea, story of the
burial place of dead elephants,
181
Siribeddi, the female decoy, her
ability, 123
—	her conduct, 14$
Skinner, Major, story of his dog, 15
—	his description of a strange
sound made by elephants, 29
SUM
Skinner, Major, finds elephant
traces on Adam’s Peak, 41
—	number of elephants shot by
him, 78
—	scene described by,—elephants
at night, 51
—	story of the courage of an ele-
phant hunter, 99 n.
Sleaman, General, account of
wolves suckling children, 47 n.
Sloane, Sir Hans, on the anatomy
of the elephant, 56 ft.
Smell, power of, 27, 98
Solinus, his error as to the joints
of the elephant, 35
Sounds uttered by the elephant, 27
Soup, made from the elephant’s
foot, 89
Speed of an elephant, 32
Sport. See Shooting
Stomach of the elephant, double,
56
Stones, how raised by elephants,
162
Strachan, Mr., description of
shipping elephants at Manaar,
103 n.
—	on their liability to sudden
death, 160 ft.
Structure of the elephant, 4
Stuckley, Dr. William, on the
anatomy of the elephant, 56 n.
Sudden death, liability of elephants
to, 159, 16 on.
“ Sun and moon,” emblems of
duration, 187
Sumatra, elephant of, vi.
—	called gadjah, vi.
—	description by Temminck, 11.
vii.
—	opinion of Prof. Schlegel on its
distinctness from the elephant
of India, viii.
—	ribs and vertebrae, vii.
—	teeth of, vi.
—	this opinion controverted by
Dr. Falconer, ix.Index.
197
SUR
TUS
Surgical operations on elephants,
168
Swimming, action of the elephant
in, 55
Swine, alleged antipathy^ of ele-
phant to, 11, 14
TAME elephants, their con-
duct in the corral, 134. See
Decoys
— value of their labour 162, 174
— levelling trees, 163
— piling timber, 164
— laziness, 165
— punishments, 165
— attachment to attendants, 166
— medical treatment, 168, 170
— obedience to orders, 169
— causes of death in captivity,
171
— weight of draught, 174
— cost of feeding a tame elephant,
m
— favourite food, 175
Tavernier, on the supposed su-
periority of the elephant of Cey-
lon, 153 n.
Teeth of the Sumatran elephant,
vi.
Temminck’s Dutch Possessions in
India, vi.
— account of Sumatran elephant,
viii.
Theroaldus, Physiologtts, error
in, as to the joints of the ele-
phant, 36
Thevenot, on the supposed su-
periority of the Ceylon elephant
to that of India, 152
Thomson, error in his Seasons,
as to the joints of the elephant,
38
Timber, how dragged by elephants,
161	162
— wonderful skill in piling of, 164
Tipperah, elephant of, x.
Tissaweva. See Anarajapoora, 65
Tooth-ache, 172
Training elephants, 150, See.
—	first employments, 161
—	males more unmanageable than
females, 158
—	process of, 150
—	varieties of disposition, 159
Trees, manner m which elephants
level them, 146
—	stories of overthrowing exagge-
rated, 162
Trompe. See Tmnk
Trumpeting, peculiar sound of, 144
Trunk, so called from “ trump, ”28
—	Aristotle compares the sound
to a trumpet, ib.
—	strange drawings of, in the
fifteenth century, 28 n.
Tushes, their use to the elephant, 7
—	they, and not the tusks, shed,
7 n.
Tuskers, influence of in the herd,
5°
—	their efficiency in a corral, 136
Tusks, rare in the Ceylon ele-
* phant, 6
—	in Africa both male and female
have them, 6
—	average weight of those im-
ported, 60 cwt., 6 n.
—	in Ceylon are light, owing
to the animals being shot young,
6 n., 8
—	a favourite treasure in Buddhist
temples, 6 n., 8
—	both sexes have, in India and
Africa, 6 n., 8
—	fallacy as to the elephant shed-
ding his tusks, 7
—	conjecture as to the presence
of, in African elephant, and their
absence in that of India and Cey-
lon, 7
—	weight in various countries, 8 11.
—	instance of a diseased one, 8 n.
See Brooke, Sir Victor198
TUS
Index.
YUL
Tusks, female elephant has none,
in Ceylon, 9
—	not ordinarily used as weapons
of offence, 9
—	fight between an elephant and
two bulls, at Saragossa, 10 n.
—	fight of two elephants with
their tusks, 10
—	story in Maccabees of Jews killed
by elephants, 16 n.
—	what is their use, 17, 17
—	abnormal varieties in shape,
17 n.
Tytler, Mr., story of curiosity in
elephants, 67 n.
VALENTYN, his account of
shipping elephants'for India
from Ceylon, 103
Vegetable ivory palm, 4 n.
Vulgar Errors. See Sir Thomas
Browne, 32
WATER, love of the ele-
phant for, 4 n.
— attempt to derive the word ele-
phant from, 4 n.
— receptacle for, in the stomach,
56
— quantities withdrawn by the
trunk in the corral, 133
Weber’s Metrical Romance of the
thirteenth century, 12 n.
Wells, dug by elephants, 54
White elephant; a lusus naturae,
23
—	exhibited in Holland in 1633, 24
—	mentioned by Horace at Rome
ib.
White, Gilbert, of Selbome,
on the affection of animals to
the young of others, 46 n.
Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, on
the knowledge of the elephant
in ancient Egypt, 152 n.
White oxen worshipped in Egypt,
23
Wolf, his strange adventures in
Ceylon, 31 n.y 48, 105 11.
—	on the capture of wild ele-
phants, 96 n.
—	on the height of the elephant,
31
Wolves suckling children, 46 n.
Wound of Lieut. Fretz, 90
Wright’s Reliquiae Antiquesy 36
OUNG, affection for, 47
Young elephants, their con-
duct when captured, 137
— their tricks in captivity, 138,
148
Yule, Colonel, on the liability of
the elephant to sudden death,
160 n.
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