42 THE ELEPHANT. 



others were. The putting on these ropes generally takes up 

 about twenty minutes, during which the utmost silence is ob- 

 served ; and the mahotes, who keep flat upon the necks of the 

 females, are covered with dark-coloured cloths, which serve 

 to keep them warm, and at the same time do not attract the 

 notice of the elephant. — While the people are busily em- 

 ployed in tying the legs of the goondah, lie caresses some- 

 times one, sometimes another, of the seducers In case 



of accidents, however, should the goondah get loose, the 

 people upon the first alarm can always mount on the 

 backs of the tame elephants, by a rope which hangs ready 

 for the purpose, and thus get out of his reach. When his 

 hind legs are properly secured, they leave him to himself, 

 and retire to a small distance; as soon as the koomkees 

 leave him, he attempts to follow, but, finding his legs tied, 

 he is roused to a proper sense of his situation, and re- 

 treats towards the jungle ; the mahotes follow at a moderate 

 distance from him on the tame elephants, accompanied by a 

 number of people that had been previously sent for, and who, 

 as soon as the goondah passes near a stout tree, make a few 

 turns of the phands (or long cables that are trailing behind 

 him,) around its trunk : his progress being thus stopt, he be- 

 comes furious, and exerts his utmost force to disengage him- 

 self, nor will he then allow any of the koomkees to come 

 near him ; he is outrageous for some time, falling down and 

 goring the earth with his tusks. If by these exertions the 

 phands are once broken, which sometimes is effected, and he 

 escapes into the thick jungle, the mahotes dare not advance 

 for fear of the other wild elephants, and are therefore obliged 

 to leave him to his fate ; and in this hampered situation, it is 

 said, he is even ungenerously attacked by the other wild ele- 

 phants. As the cables are very strong and seldom give way, 

 when he has exhausted himself by his exertions, the koom- 

 kees are again brought near, and take their former positions, 

 viz. one on each side, and the other behind. After getting 

 him nearer the tree, the people carry the ends of the long 

 cables around his legs, then back and about the trunk of the 

 tree, making if they can two or three turns, so as to prevent 

 even the possibility of his escape. It would be almost im- 

 possible to secure an elephant in any other manner, as he 

 would tear up any stake that could at the time be driven into 

 the ground, and even the noise of doing it would frighten the 

 elephant ; therefore nothing less than a strong tree is ever 

 trusted to by the hunters. 



" For still further security, as well as to confine him from 

 moving to either side, his fore legs are tied exactly in the same 



