33G 



THE ELEPHANT. 



[Part VIII. 



Kxox describes with circumstantiality the mode 

 adopted at that time by the servants of the king to 

 catch elephants for the royal stud. He says, "After 

 discovering the retreat of such as have tusks, unto 

 these they diive some she elephants, which they bring 

 with them, for the purpose, which, when once the 

 males have got a sight of, they wiU never leave, but 

 follow them wheresoever they go, and the females 

 are so used to it that they will do whatsoever, either 

 by word or a beck, thek keepers bid them. And so 

 they delude them along through towns and countries, 

 and through the streets of the city, even to the very 

 gates of the king's palace, where sometimes they seize 

 upc^n them by snares, and sometimes by driving them 

 into a Idnd of pound, they catch them." ^ 



In Nepaul and Burmah, and througliout the Chin- 

 Indian Peninsula, when in pursuit of single elephants, 

 either rogues detached from the herd, or indi\dduals 

 who have been marked for the beauty of their ivory, 

 the natives avail themselves of the aid of females in 

 order to effect their approaches and secure an opportunity 

 of casting a noose over the foot of the destined captive. 

 All accounts concur in expressing high admiration of 

 their courage and address ; but from Avhat has fallen 

 under my own observation, added to the descriptions I 

 have heard from other eye-witnesses, I am inchned 

 to beheve that in such exploits the Moormen of 

 Ceylon evince a daring and adroitness that far surpass 

 all others. 



These professional elephant catchers, or as they 

 are called, Panickeas, inhabit the Moorish villages in 



in readiness to tie liim up to the 

 nearest tree." — See "Wolf's Life and 

 Advcniurcs, p. 152. Shakspere ap- 

 pears to have been acquainted with 

 the plan of taking elephants in pit- 

 falls : Decius, encouraging the con- 

 spirators, reminds them of Cfesar's 

 taste for anecdotes of animals, by 



which he would undertake to lure 

 him to his fate : 



'' For he lov<?s to hear 

 That unicorns may be betrayed with trees, 

 Andbears with ghisses ; r/rp/ia/its with holes." 

 JiLius Cksaii, Act ii. Scene I. 



^ Kxox's Historiml Rdcdion of 

 Ceylon, A.D. 1G81; part i. cli. vi. p. 21. 



