THE 



WILD ELEPHAXT. 



CH-\PTER L 



STRUCTLRi: AXD FUXCTIOXS. 



DuiuxG my residence in Ceylon, I had on two occasions 

 opportunities of witnessing the operation on a grand 

 scale, of capturing wild elephants, intended to be trained 

 for the Government senice in the establishment of the 

 Civil Engineer and Commissioner of Roads; — ^and in 

 the course of my frequent journeys through the interior 

 of the island, I succeeded in collecting so many facts 

 relative to the habits of these animals so interesting in 

 a state of nature, as enable me not only to add to the 

 information previously possessed, but to correct some of 

 the fallacies popularly entertained regarding their disjxjsi- 

 tion and instincts. These particulars I am anxious to 

 place on record before proceeding to describe the scenes 

 I allude to, diuing the progress of the elephant hunts in 

 the district of the Seven Kories, at which I was present 

 in 1846, and again in 1847. 



