250 Natural Hljiory of the Elephant. 



order to make them acquainted, the number of fpeftators was greate^ Hiari''Sn^ atVy^ijlhfer 

 fimilar occafion. 



She was afterwards covered, feveral times, on the abth oi the ftme moftth; tlVe linallSj ili' 

 this cafe, being admitted after an interval of three days, although forriierly, in juhe, 1793, 

 flie refufed him when only two had elapfed. She again proved with young ; and in Novem- 

 ber, 1796, being myfelf in a bad fiate of health, and under the necellity of returning to Elu- 

 rope, 1 fent her to Lucknow, together with her young ofie, ^t the requeft of my friend 

 Captain David Lumsden : though (he was then very big, {he wliS fiill giving fuck. 



About a month before that period, I got my friend, Mr. Stephen Harris, to permit a 

 femaleof his to be covered; the fame which had, 'in i793> rejected the attempts of the male 

 to cover her contrary to her inclination. Another mefTsnger v/as difpatched to Cudwah, for 

 the Rajah's elephant, which was again fent to Comillah. He covered her repeatedly, on the 

 .14th, 15th, and i6th of Oftober, 1796, before many Europeans, as well as natives; and the 

 thelaft time he covered her', it was evidently contiary to her inclination; fo tha't, in fact, he 

 ufed force to efFeiS his purpofe, and held her fo firmly, that the marks of the nails of his fore- 

 feet were deeply imprinted on her (houlders. 



Having mentioned a fufficient number of inuances, to prove the ability, as well as fte 

 inclination of the elephant, to projjagate his fpecies in i dorheftic ftate, and that without ia'riy 

 figns of modefty, and having afcertained the period of gellEtion to be twenty month's and 

 eighteen days, it may be neceffary to obferve, that it is a difficult matter to bring a male 

 which has been taken about the prime of life, into good condition to ait as a ftalllonj 'foi-, 

 being naturally bolder, and of a more ungovernable difpofition, than the female, he is not in 

 general eafily tamed, till reduced very low; and it requires confiderable time, as well as much 

 expence and attention, before he can be brought into fuch high order as is requifite. He 

 mufl alfo be of a gentle temper, and difpofed to put confidence in his keeper; for he will not 

 readily have connexion with a female, whilft under the influence of fear or diftruf}. Of this 

 I have feen many inflances; nor do I recolledl one male elephant in ten, which had been taken 

 after having attained his full growth, much dilpofed to have connexion with a female. This 

 is a moll convincing proof, that thofe males which are taken early in life, and have been do- 

 inefticated for many years, more readily procreate their fpecies than elephants taken at a later 

 period. In their wild ftate, however, they fhew no relu6tance; for, bcfides all the males 

 that are entrapped, from their defire to have connexion with the trained females which, 

 though not in heat, are carried out to feduce them, feveral inftances have occurred' of wild 

 elephants covering, immediately after being taken, in the keddah. 



On the third of April, I795> a very fine male elephant covered a female twice, in the 

 midft of the herd, and before all the hunters. On the 4th I faw him attempting to cover a 

 third time, when he was fuddenly difturbed, by the noife the hunters made to drive away 

 feme of the herd which had come too near the palifade. In confequence of this interruption, 

 he threw down hrft one and then another fmail elephant, and gored them terribly with his tulks, 

 though they came between him and the female only for their protedion ; he had, before this, 



killed 



