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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June 2, 1884. 



This quotation from Sir Emerson Tennent shows the 

 similarity of opinion between the natives of Ceylon and of 

 India. But the belief of a universal sepukluro is untenable on 

 many grounds. It may bo believed that, in annually captur- 

 ing large numbers of elephants, the hunters of the Dacca 

 establishment penetrate the most retired p.arts of the jun- 

 gles of As.sam, Ohittagong, aud elsewhere; but tliough many 

 men have grown grey in the service, I havo not met one 

 who has seen a dead eleph.ant's remains, except at a time 

 when an epidemic disease decimated the herds in Chittagong. 

 Jungle fires seldom penetrate the large forests ; thus their 

 bones caimot be burned. Monsoon raiusdo not destroy them 

 for some years, as is proved by the bones of elephants that 

 have been shot, and which may be seen many years later. 

 It may be thought that aged, weak elephants are sometimes 

 unable to e.^tricate themselves from morasses or the soft 

 beds of rivers where they go to take their last drink, aud 

 that their remains are swallowed up therein. This possibly 

 may occur occasionally, but there are many elephant jungles 

 where no quicksands or bogs e.\ist. In Mysore, for instance, 

 a province where wild elephants aboimd, and which I know 

 intimately, the jungle streams are small, and their beds are 

 uniformly rocky. If elephants died in these, their bodies 

 would be iloated down through inhabited country where 

 they coidd not cs ape observation. But this has never, to 

 my knowledge, occurred. It is probable that the longevity 

 of elephants may account to a great extent for their re- 

 mauis rarely being seen. If elephants live for 200 years, 

 the annual deaths from natural causes would only amomit 

 to 5 per 1,000. This figure would, no doubt, be exceeded 

 in reality, as elephants are liable to be killed by each other, 

 and to die by various accidents. Though the immber that 

 die annually is thus, probably, much less than might be sup- 

 posed, the mystery of what becomes of the remains of those 

 that do die is still entirely unexplained. 



Herds of elephants usually consist of from 30 to 50 in- 

 dividuals, but much larger numbers, even upwards of 100, 

 are by no means uncommon. A herd is alway led by a 

 female, never by a male. In localities where fodder is scarce, 

 a large herd usu.ally divides into parties of from 10 to 20. 

 These remaui at some little distance from each other, but all 

 take part in any common movement, such as a niarch into 

 another tract of forest. These separate parties are family 

 groujis, consisting of old elephants with their children and 

 grand-children. It thus happens that, thougli the gregari- 

 ous instincts of elephants prompt them to from large gather- 

 ings, if circumstances necessitate it a herd In-eaks up under 

 several leaders. Oases frequently occiu: when they are being 

 hunted ; each party will thou take measures for its individual 

 safety. It cannot be said that a large hen! has any supreme 

 leader. Tuskers never mterest themselves in the movement 

 of their herds; they wander much alone, either to risit cultiv- 

 ation where the " females, encumbered with young ones, 

 hesitate to follow, or from a love of solitude. Single eleph- 

 ants found w.audering in the forests are usually young males, 

 animals debarred from much intimate association with the 

 herds by stronger rivals; but they usually keep within a 

 few miles of their companions. These wandering tuskers 

 are only biding their time until they are able to meet all 

 comers in a herd. Tlie necessity for the females regulat- 

 ing the movements of a herd is evident, as they must ac- 

 comodate the length and time of their mm-ches, and the 

 localities in which they rest and feed at different hours, 

 to the requirements of their young ones. 



Elephant calves usually stand exactly 30 in. at the shoulder 

 wheu born, and weigh about 200 lb. They live entirely upon 

 milk for five or six months, when they bcg^u to eat tender 

 gras.s. Their chief support, however, is still milk for some 

 months. I have known three cases of elephants haWng two 

 calves at a birth. It cannot be said that the female eleph- 

 ant evinces any special attachment to her ofl'spring, whilst 

 the belief that .-lU the females of a herd show aft'ectiou for 

 each other's calves is certainly erroneous ; were such the 

 case it would preclude the belief in any marked love for 

 her own young. During the catching of elephants many 

 cases occur m which young ones, after losing their mothers 

 by <lcath or separation, are refused assistance by the other 

 females, and are buffeted about as outcasts. When a calf 

 is born, the mother and the herd usually remain in that place 

 for two days. The calf is then capable of marching. Even 

 at this tender age calves are no encumbrance to the herd's 

 movement ; the youngest climb hills, aud cross rivers, assisted 



by their dams. In swimming, very young calves are sup" 

 ported by their mother's trunks, and are held in front of 

 them. "When they are a few months old, they scramble 

 on to their mother's shoulders, and hold on with then lore- 

 legs, or they swm alone. Though a few calves are born at 

 other seasons, the largest number make their appearance 

 in September, October, and November. 



The elephant is full grown, but is not fully mature, at 

 about 25 years of age. At this period it may be com- 

 pared to a human being of 18 ; and it does not attain its 

 full strength and vigour before 35 years. Female elephants 

 give birth to their first calf at from 13 to 10 years of 

 age, when they are stiil palpably immatiu:e themselves. 

 Only the male Indian elephant has tusks ; the female is 

 provided with short tushes, or downward prongs, in the 

 upper jaw ; they are seldom moro than 4 in. in length. On 

 the continent of India, mucknaSf or male elephants without 

 tusks, are decidedly rare. The absence of tusks appears 

 to be a merely accidental circumstance. But in Ocylon 

 male elephants with tusks are still more uncommon. Sir 

 Samuel Baker says that not moro than one in 3U0 is pro- 

 vided with them. It i,s difficult to imagine what can cause , , 

 the vital difference of tusks and no tusks between the eleph- 

 ants of the continent aud of Ceylon, as they are of 

 the same species, and the climate and their food may be 

 said to be identical. Elephants occasionally lose one, some- 

 times both tusks, in accidents in the jungle, ancl some 

 have only one tu.sk from birth. The latter are known as 

 (/jinc^hax, aud are reverenced by Hindoos if the tusk 

 retained bo the right hand one. Elephants never shed 

 their tusks. Jcrdon and others, following Mr. Corse, aro 

 undoubtedly in error in saying this occurs between tho 

 first and second years of the yomig elephant's existence 

 or at any other time. The skulls of fcetal elephants ex- 

 hibit milk tusks, but these never make their appearance ; 

 they are absorbed, aud tho tusk that cuts the gum is the 

 permanent one. Nor are tusks lost by accident ever re- 

 newed. 



The records of many hundreds of elephants, captured 

 by the Dacca establishment, show that there are about 43 

 male elephants to 100 females; and one muckna, or tusk- 

 less male, in every 10 males. 



Elephants are exceedingly inoffensive and retiring in their 

 habits. They are very timid in their wild state, aud with- 

 draw at oi\co from the intrusion of man. They iisvuilly 

 drink after sunrise and before sunset. They prefer the 

 water of the small tributary streams to that of the larger 

 rivers of the jungles they are inhabiting; for what reason 

 1 have never been able to ascertain. Elephants seldom 

 bathe after the sun is down, except in verj' warm weather. 

 They swim remarkably well, as is proved by the fact that 

 large numbers are annually sent across the tideway of the 

 'combined Gauges and Bramhapootra, between Dacca aud 

 Barrackpore, and they are sometimes six consecutive hours 

 without touching bottom. I have seen an elephant swim 

 a river 300 yards wide with his hind legs tied together. 

 Elephants are sometimes drowned, apparently by being at- 

 tacked with' crauip or by a fit. 



The only pace of the elephant is the walk, capable of 

 being increased to a fast shuffle of about fifteen miles an 

 hour for a very short distance. The elephant can neither, 

 trot, canter, or gallop, nor can it make the smallest spring 

 either in v Ttical height or in horizontal distance. A trench 

 8 ft. widi' and 8 ft. deep is quite impas.sable to an elephant. 



Ii. has i,een satisfactorily settled that there is no such 

 creature :is a really white elephant, the so-called albinoes 

 of the Kings of Biu-mah and Siam being merely elephants 

 of a somewhat dirty cream colour, and in some cases even 

 elephants with only an unusual amount of the flesh-col- 

 oured blotchings on the face, cars, and neck, common in 

 some degi-ee to all elephants. I need not advert here to 

 Jlr. Barnum's so-called white elephant further than to say 

 that he is the eonunonest of common elephants, to bo seen 

 every day in India, aud does not possess a single peculiarity 

 of any desciiiption to justify the statements regarding his 

 colour and special character, which preceded and even fol- 

 lowed his arrival in I'higland. 



I will now p:iss to the modes of capturing and training 

 the elephant. Elei)liauts are not bred in captivity in India, 

 as by the time the young ones would be of a u.seful age, 

 15 years, they would have cost more than would suffice 

 to capture a number of uiiiturc wild ones. Elephants are. 



