64 The Wild Elephant. 



it to his moutli, he beats the earth from its roots by 

 striking it gently upon his fore-leg. A coco-nut he first 

 rolls under foot, to detach the strong outer bark, then 

 stripping off with his trunk the thick layer of fibre within, 

 he places the shell in his mouth, and swallows with evi- 

 dent relish the fresh liquid which flows as he crushes it 

 between his grinders. 



The natives of the peninsula of Jaffna always look for 

 the periodical appearance of the elephants, at the precise 

 time when the fruit of the palmyra palm begins to fall to 

 the ground from ripeness. In like manner in the eastern 

 provinces where the custom prevails of cultivating what is 

 called chcna ^ land (by clearing a patch of forest for the 

 purpose of raising a single crop, after which the ground is 

 abandoned, and reverts to jungle again), although a single 

 elephant may not have been seen in the neighbourhood 

 during the early stages of the process, the Moormen, who 

 are the principal cultivators of this class, will predict their 

 appearance with almost unerring confidence so soon as 

 the grains shall have begun to ripen ; and although the 

 crop comes to maturity at different periods in different 

 districts, herds are certain to be seen at each in succes- 

 sion, as soon as it is ready to be cut. In these well-timed 

 excursions they resemble the bison of North America, 

 which, by a similarly mysterious instinct, finds its way to 

 portions of the distant prairies, where accidental fires have 

 been followed by a growth of tender grass. In Ceylon, 

 although the fences around these cJmms are little more 



' For an explanation of this term, see Sir J. Emerson Tennent's Ceylon, 

 etc. vol. i. p. 498- 



