92 THE BENGAL KHEDDAII SYSTEM. 



and elsewhere by the Bengal Government, hut of late years prices have 

 become almost prohibitory. In 1835 the price of elephants was £45 per 

 head; in 1855 about £75 ; in 1874, twenty were purchased at Sonepoor 

 for the Bengal Government at £132, 15s. each; in 1875, seventy were 

 required at Sonepoor, for which £140 per head was sanctioned, but not one 

 was procurable at that figure. £150 is now the lowest rate for which 

 young animals, chiefly females, and not fully grown, can be obtained. The 

 price of good females of the working class is at present from £200 to £300. 

 The value of tuskers is very capricious ; it depends mainly upon the near- 

 ness of approach of their points to those of the Koomeriah. The best 

 are only found in the possession of those who can pay fancy prices, but all 

 male elephants are in high demand for the retinues of rajahs and temple 

 purposes. Scarcely any limit can be placed on the price of a really perfect 

 Koomeriah; £2000 is not an unknown figure. Tuskers of any preten- 

 sions at all command from £800 to £1500. Two newly-caught tuskers of 

 no particular merit were sold out of the Dacca stud, in 1875, for £1600 

 the pair. 



The elephants required for the service of Government in Bengal are 

 mostly captured by the Government Kheddah (or elephant-catching) Estab- 

 lishment, the headquarters of which are at Dacca, in Eastern Bengal. This 

 establishment is under a European officer, and contains a large number of 

 trained elephants and native hunters, and yearly in December penetrates 

 some of the forests of Assam, Chittagong, or other tracts, and captures 

 elephants, which are marched to Dacca before the rains commence in May. 

 Here they are trained for service, and about November are despatched to 

 Barrackpoor, near Calcutta, whence they are allotted to different Commis- 

 sariat stations. The average annual number of elephants captured by the 

 Dacca Establishment during the seven years prior to 1875-76 was fifty-nine. 



The Superintendent of Kheddahs at Dacca is also empowered to grant 

 licences to natives of capital to capture elephants upon certain terms, by 

 which Government secures a further annual supply. These lessees work in 

 forests where the Government kheddahs are not working, and the terms 

 usually are that half of the elephants measuring over six feet, and below 

 ei°ht and a half feet, at the shoulder, are to be handed over as Government 

 rent ; whilst all below six feet, and over eight and a half feet in height, are 

 the exclusive property of the lessee. Government is further at liberty to 

 purchase any or all of the lessee's share of the elephants between six and 

 ei^ht and a half feet at £5 per foot of height at shoulder (for instance, £40 

 for an eight-feet elephant), which is very much below the usual price of 

 newly-caught elephants. 



