CuAr. I.] 



STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS. 



273 



formerly numerous ^ ; smaller lierds have been taken in 

 the periodical captures for the pubhc service, and hunters 

 returning fi'om the chase report them to be more scarce. 

 In consequence of this diminution the peasantry in 

 some parts of the island have even suspended the an- 

 cient practice of keeping watchers and fires by night 

 to drive away the elephants fi'om thek growing crops.^ 

 The opening of roads and the clearing of the mountain 

 forests of Kandy for the cultivation of coffee, have 

 forced the animals to retu-e to the low country ; where 

 again they have been followed by large parties of Eu- 

 ropean sportsmen ; and the Singhalese themselves, being 

 more freely provided with arms than in former times, 

 have assisted in swelhng the annual slaughter. 



Had the motive which incites to the destruction of 

 the elephant in Africa and India prevailed in Ceylon, 

 and had the elephants there been pro\ided with tusks, 

 they Avould long since have been annihilated for the 

 sake of their ivory.^ But it is a cm^ious fact that, 



^ Le Britx, wlio visited Ceylon 

 A.D. 1705, says tliat in the distiict 

 round Colombo, where elephants are 

 now never seen, they were then so 

 abundant, that 160 had been taken 

 in a single con'al. ( Voyage, ^-c, torn. 

 ii. ch. Ixiii. p. 331.) 



^ In some parts of Bengal, where 

 elephants were formerly troublesome 

 (especially near the wilds of Ram- 

 gar), the natives got rid of them by 

 mixing a preparation of the poison- 

 ous nepal root called dahra in balls 

 of gi-ain, and other materials, of which 

 the animal is fond. In Cuttack, above 

 fifty years ago, mineral poison was 

 laid for them in the same way, and 

 the carcases of eighty were foimd 

 which had been killed by it. {Asiat. 

 Res., XV. 183.) 



^ The annual importation of ivory 

 into Creat Britain alone, for the 

 last few years, has been about one 

 million pounds ; which, taking the 

 average weight of a tusk at sixty 

 pounds, would requii-e the slaughter 



VOL. II. T 



of 8,333 male elephants. 



But of this quantity the importa- 

 tion from Ceylon has generally aver- 

 aged only five or six himdred weight; 

 which, making allowance for the 

 lightness of the tusks, woidd not in- 

 volve the destruction of more than 

 seven or eight in each year. At the 

 same time, this does not fixirly repre- 

 sent the annual number of tuskers 

 shot in Ceylon, not only because a 

 portion of the ivory finds its way to 

 China and to other places, but be- 

 cause the chiefs and Buddliist priests 

 haA'e a passion for collecting tusks, 

 and the finest and largest are to be 

 fomid omamenting tlieir temples and 

 private dwellings. The Chinese pro- 

 fess that for their exqiusite carvings 

 the ivoiT of Ceylon excels all otlier, 

 both in density of texture and in de- 

 licacy of tint ; but in tlu^ European 

 market, the ivoiy of jVfrica, from its 

 more distinct gi-aining and otlier 

 causes, obtains a higher price. 



