CiiAP. IL] 



HABITS WHEN WILD. 



3C5 



These are believed by tlie Singhalese to be either 

 individuals, who by accident have lost their former 

 associates and become morose and savage from rage 

 and solitude ; or else that being naturally vicious they 

 have become daring from the jnelding habits of their 

 milder companions, and eventually separated themselves 

 from the rest of the herd which had refused to associate 

 with them. Another conjectirre" is, that being almost 

 universally males, the death or capture of particular 

 females may have detached them from their foraier 

 companions in search of fresh alliances.' It is also 

 beheved that a tame elephant escaping from captivity, 

 unable to rejoin its former herd, and excluded from 

 any other, becomes a " rogue" from necessity. In 

 Ceylon it is generally beheved that the rogues are all 

 males (but of this I am not certain), and so sullen is 

 then' disposition that although two may be in the same 

 vicinity, there is no known instance of their associating, 

 or of a rogue being seen in company wdth another 

 elephant. 



They spend their nights in marauchng chiefly about 

 the dwellings of men, destroying thek plantations, 

 tramphng down their gardens, and committing serious 

 ravages in rice grounds and young coco-nut planta- 



emplojTTient lie served for twenty 

 years at Jaifiia, first as Secretaiy to 

 the Goveraor, and afterwards in an 

 office tlie duties of which he describes 

 to be the examination and sifjnature 

 of the " wi'itings wliich served to com- 

 mence a suit in any of tlie Courts of 

 j ustice." His book embodies a truth- 

 fid and generally accurate account of 

 the northern portion of the island, witli 

 which alone he was conversant, and 

 his narrative gives a curious insight 

 into the policy of the Dutch Govern- 

 ment, and the condition of the natives 

 under their doniinion. Wolf does 

 not g;ive " i-a/ikedor'" as a term pe- 

 culiar to that section of the islaitd ; 

 but both thei-e and elsewhere, it is 

 obsolete at the present d.ay, unless 

 VOL. II. 



it be open to conjecture that the 

 modern term "rogue" is a modifica- 

 tion of runfjuedue. 



' BucnAXAX, in his Survej/ oj 

 Bhaffidpore, p. 50.3, says, that solitaiy 

 males of tlie wild buffalo, " when 

 driven from the herd by sti-onger 

 competitors for female society, are 

 reckoned very dangerous to meet 

 with ; for they are apt to wreak their 

 vengeance on whatever they meet, 

 and are said to kill annually three or 

 four people"' TiTyTN-JsroNE relates 

 the same of the solitary hippopot- 

 amus, which becomes soured in 

 temp(>r, and wantonly attacks the 

 passing canoes. — Traveh in Soidh 

 Africa, p. 231. 



X 



