Chap. IV.] AN ELEPHANT CORRAL. 339 



leaves beneatli a tree on which one of the party is 

 stationed, whose business it is to hft it suddenly by 

 means of a cord, raising it on the elephant's leg at 

 the moment when his companion has succeeded in 

 provoking him to place his foot within its circle, 

 the other end having been previously made fast to 

 the stem of the tree. Should the noosing be effected 

 in oj^en ground, and no tree of sufficient strength at 

 hand round which to wind the rope, one of the Moors, 

 allowing himself to be pm^sued by the enraged ele- 

 phant, entices him towards the nearest grove ; where 

 his companion, dexterously laj-ing hold of the rope as 

 it trails along the ground, suddenly coils it round a 

 suitable stem, and brings the fugitive to a stand still. 

 On finding himself thus arrested, the natural impulse 

 of the captive is to turn on the man who is engaged in 

 making fast the rope, a movement which it is the duty 

 of his colleague to prevent by running up close to the 

 elephant's head and provoking him to confront him by 

 irritating gesticulations and incessant shouts of dah! 

 dah ! a monosyllable, the sound of which the elephant 

 pecuharly dishkes. Meanwhile the first assailant, having 

 secured one noose, comes up from behind with another, 

 with which, amidst the vain rage and struggles of the 

 victim, he entraps a fore leg, the rope being, as before, 

 secured to another tree in front, and the whole four feet 

 having been thus entangled, the capture is completed. 



A shelter is then run up with branches, to protect 

 him from the sun, and the hunters proceed to build a 

 wigwam for themselves in front of their prisoner, 

 kindhng their fires for cooking, and making all the ne- 

 cessary arrangements for remaining day and night on 

 the spot to await the process of subduing and taming 

 his rage. In my journeys through the forest I liave 

 come unexpectedly on the halting place of adventu- 

 rous hunters when thus engaged ; and on one occasion, 

 about sunrise, in ascending the steep ridge from the 

 bed of the Malwatte river, the foremost rider of our 



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