AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 437 



good deal of reporting and correspondence, the Govern- 

 ment of India was induced to send down one of its 

 regularly organised elephant-catching establishments to 

 these wilds, which attacked the herds duriug the years 

 1865 to 1867. The system pursued in this country was 

 somewhat peculiar, and has been thus described by an 

 eye-witness :* 



" Several modes of capture were tried here, but the 

 most successful was a simple stockade erected hurriedly 

 in one of the runs near the spot where the elephants 

 were tracked. To make this process successful, a very 

 large establishment is required, for all necessary arrange- 

 ments to be of any use must be made at once. A rough 

 ring-fence of bamboos is thrown round a large area, 

 traversing in circumference some two or three miles, 

 within which the elephants have lots of moving room. 

 This enclosure must contain water and fodder, or the 

 elephants are certain to break through. At every few 

 paces there are two coolies who relieve one another, and 

 by striking the fence with a stick, keep up a continual 

 clatter. Then at every hundred yards or so, there is a 

 matchlock-man supplied with blank ammunition. Near 

 this fence the jungle is cleared, so that at any point the 

 elephants make for, they are at once visible, and when 

 they are seen approaching, a rush of men occurs to the 

 threatened locality with an immense shouting and firing 

 of matchlocks. This has the effect of driving the herd 

 back, and as it is at night that these efforts are chiefly 

 necessarj'-, they entail much watchfulness and labour. 

 In fact, at night the whole circle is, as it were, a blaze, 

 for each party has lighted a grand pile of wood. These 

 fires surround the elephants in a ring of light, which 



* Report on the Settlement of the Bihxspiir district of the Central 

 Provinces, by J. W. Chisholm, Esq. 



