ELEPHANT HUNTING IN TITE EAST INDIES. 327 



assist in ensnaring other birds ; but this is simply an effect of habit 

 The elephant, on the contrary, has an evident desire to join its 

 master in subduing its own race ; and, in this treachery to its kind, 

 exercises so much ingenuity, courage, and perseverance, that we 

 cannot find a parallel instance of complete subjection to the will of 

 him to whom it was given to " have dominion over the fish of the 

 sea, and over the fowl oi the air, and over every living thing that 

 moveth upon the earth." 



The various modes of capturing wild elephants in India have 

 undergone little variation for several centuries ; and they are more 

 or less practised in all parts of Asia where elephants are still re- 

 quired to maintain the splendor of Oriental luxury to assist in 

 the pomp and administer to the pride of despotic monarc-hs , or, as 

 is the case in the British Eastern establishments, to bear the heavy 

 equipage of an Indian camp, or to labor in the peaceful occupa- 

 tions of transporting those articles of commerce, which are far too 

 weighty to be moved by the power of the horse or camel. 



