Chap. 1 1.] HABITS WHEN WILD. 321 



gentleman who resided on a coffee plantation at Kaxava, 

 one of the loftiest mountains of the Ambogammoa range. 

 More than once during the terrific tlunider-bursts that 

 precede the rains at the change of each monsoon, he ob- 

 served that the elephants in the adjoining forests hastened 

 from under cover of the trees and took up their station 

 in the open ground, where I saw them on one occasion 

 collected into a group ; and here, he said, it was their 

 custom to remain till the hghtning had ceased, when they 

 retired again into the jungle.^ 



When free in his native woods the elephant evinces 

 rather simphcity than sagacity, and his intelligence seldom 

 exhibits itself in cunning. The rich profusion m wliicli 

 nature lias supplied his food, and anticipated his every 

 w^ant, has made him independent of tliose devices by 

 which carnivorous animals provide for their subsistence ; 

 and, from the absence of all rivalry betw^een himself 

 and the other denizens of the plains, he is never required 

 to resort to artifice for self-protection. For these reasons, 

 in his tranquil and harmless life, he may appear to casual 

 observers to exhibit even less than ordinary abihty ; but 

 when danger and apprehension call for the exertion of 

 his powers, those who have witnessed their display are 

 seldom inchned to undervalue his sagacity. 



Mr. Cripps has related to me an instance in which a 

 recently captured elephant was either rendered senseless 

 from car, or, as the native attendants asserted, feigned 

 death in order to I'cgain its freedom. It was led from tlie 

 corral as usual between two tame ones, and had akeady 

 proceeded far on its way towards its destination ; when 

 night closing in, and the torches being hghted, it hesitated 

 to go on, and finally sank to the ground apparently life- 

 less. Mr. Cripps ordered tlie fastenings to be removed 

 from its legs, and when aU attempts to raise it had failed, 



^ The elephant is believed by the 

 Singhalese to express his uneasiness 

 by his voice, on the approach of 



rain : and the Tamils have a proverl), 

 — " Listen to tlic elephant, rain is 

 cominf/." 



VOL. ir. Y 



