THE ELEPHANT. 41 



cleaning their food by whisking and striking it against their 

 fore legs, and by moonlight they can see them distinctly at some 

 distance. As soon as they have determined on the Goondah 

 they mean to secure, three of the koomkees (or decoy elephants) 

 are conducted silently and slowly by their Mahotes (drivers) at 

 a moderate distance from each other, near to the place where 

 he is feeding ; the koomkees advance very cautiously, feed- 

 ing as they go along, and appear like wild elephants that had 

 strayed from the herd. When the male perceives them ap- 

 proaching, if he takes the alarm and is viciously inclined, he 

 beats the ground with his trunk and makes a noise, showing evi- 

 dent marks of his displeasure, and that he will not allow them 

 to approach nearer ; and if they persist, he will immediately 

 attack and gore them with his tusks ; for which reason they 

 take care to retreat in good time. But should he be amo- 

 rously disposed, as is generally the case, (as these males are 

 supposed to be driven from the herd at a particular period 

 by their seniors, to prevent their having connexion with the 

 females of that herd,) he allows the females to approach, and 

 sometimes even advances to meet them. When from these 

 appearances the mahotes judge that he will become their 

 prize, they conduct two of the females, one on each side, 

 close to him, and make them advance backwards and 

 press gently against his neck and shoulders; the third 

 female then comes up and places herself directly across his 

 tail : in this situation, so far from suspecting any design 

 against his liberty, he begins to toy with the females and 

 caress them with his trunk : while thus engaged, the fourth 

 female is brought near, with ropes and proper assistants, who 

 immediately get under the belly of the third female, and put 

 a slight cord (the Chilkah) round his hind legs ; should he 

 move, it is easily broken, in which case, if he takes no notice 

 of this slight confinement, nor appears suspicious of what was 

 going forward, the hunters then proceed to tie his legs with 

 a strong cord (called Bun da), which is passed alternately, by 

 means of a forked stick and a kind of hook, from one leg to 

 the other, forming a figure of 8; and as these ropes are short, 

 for the convenience of being more readily put around his legs, 

 six or eight are generally employed, and they are made fast by 

 another cord (the Dagbearee), which is passed a few turns per- 

 pendicularly between his legs, where the folds of the bundahs 

 intersect each other. A strong cable (called the Phand,) with 

 a running noose, sixty cubits long, is next put round each 

 hind leg, immediately above the bundahs ; and again above 

 them, six or eight additional bundahs, according to the size 

 of the elephant, are made fast, in the same manner as the 



