Slackening the Ropes. 



147 



When overpowered and made fast, his grief was most 

 affecting ; his violence sunk to utter prostration, and he 

 lay on the ground, uttering choking cries, with tears 

 trickling down his cheeks. 



The last operation of the corral was that of slackening 

 the ropes, and marching each captive elephant down to 

 the river between two tame ones. This was effected 



very simply. A decoy, with a strong collar round its 

 neck, stood on either side of the wild one, on which a 

 similar collar was formed by successive coils of coco-nut 

 rope ; and then, connecting the three collars together, 

 the prisoner was effectually made safe between his two 

 guards. During this operation, it was curious to see how 

 the tame elephant, from time to time, used its trunk to 



