CiiAr. VI.] CONDUCT IX CAPTIVITY. 393 



parts of his body, he turned his face to his assailants on 

 hearing the voice of his keeper, and knelt down at the 

 accustomed word of command, so as to bring his fore- 

 head within rauQ-e of the rifles.^ 



o 



The working elephant is always a delicate animal, 

 and requires Avatchfulness and care ; as a beast of 

 bmxlen he is unsatisfactory ; for although in point of 

 mere strength there is scarcely any weight which could 

 be conveniently placed on him that he could not carr}% 

 it is difficult to pack it without causing abrasions that 

 afterwards ulcerate. His sldn is easily chafed by har- 

 ness, especially in wet weather. Either during long 

 droughts or too much moisture, his feet are hable to 

 sores, which render him non-effective for months. Many 

 attempts have been made to provide him with some pro- 

 tection for the sole of the foot, but from his extreme 

 weight and peculiar mode of planting the foot, they 

 have all been unsuccessful. His eyes are also liable to 

 frequent inflammation, and the skill of the native ele- 

 phant-doctors, which has been renowned since the time 

 of -3^han, is nowhere more strikingly displayed than in 

 the successfid treatment of such attacks.^ In Ceylon, the 

 murrain among cattle is of frequent occurrence and 

 carries off great numbers of animals, wild as well as 

 tame. In such visitations the elephants suffer severely, 

 not only those at hberty in the forest, but those care- 

 fully tended in the government stables. Out of a stud of 

 about 40 attached to the department of the Commission 

 of Eoads, the deaths between 1841 and 1849 were on an 

 average four in each year, and this was nearly doubled 

 in those years Avhen murrain prevailed. 



Of 240 elephants employed in the pubhc departments 

 of the Ceylon Government which died in twenty-five 

 years from 1831 to 185G, the length of time that each 



1 A shocking accoimt of the death I Evenj-l)ay Book, M;u'ch, 1830, p. 337, 

 of this poor animal is given in Hone's | ^ ^Elian, lib. xiii. c. 7. 



