■I5G APPENDIX. 



so fattened up ^Tith artificial feeding, that it is hard to tell what any 

 one of them Avould look like if "stripped to the bones." Then the 

 space is so confined, and the crowd so great, that very little "trotting 

 out" is possible; so that altogether buying elephants at such fairs is 

 anything but plain sailing. 



The usual food of elephants in Upper and Central India consists 

 of cakes of wheaten flour, baked without leaven, to a weight of 

 about 2 lbs. each, and given with a slight spreading of clarified 

 butter. In the South and East, where wheat is scarce, plain un- 

 cooked rice is given instead. The daily ration of a full-sized animal 

 of, say 8i- feet high, is 24 lbs. of flour, or 32 lbs. of rice. When one 

 of these sorts of food is substituted for the other, it should be done 

 gradually ; and when rice is first given a part of it should be boiled 

 for some weeks. The above rations are for an animal in hard work. 

 In the Government Commissariat Department, where great numbers 

 of elephants are kept almost in idleness for a great part of the year, 

 lower rations are given. But the treatment of these elephants is by 

 no means a model for imitation. In a state of nature the animal 

 takes an immense deal of exercise. Here they get no work to speak 

 of between the close of one marching season (March) and the 

 beginning of the next (November). They pass quite out of con- 

 dition during this time; and many are lost from complaints gene- 

 rated by these sudden alternations of work and idleness. In tlie 

 text I have urged the employment of these elephants during this 

 season in the organised destruction of wild beasts. Of course the 

 amount of the ration will vary somewhat with the size of the animal, 

 and elephants, like horses, have their idiosyncrasies in the matter of 

 feeding. A sharp look-out requires to be kept over the mahouts at 

 feeding-time, otherwise great part of the allowance will probably go 

 to Moula Bux, wife, small family, and the several fathers, brothers, 

 and cousins, who usually aim at getting " half a seer of flour " apiece 

 out of their great milch cow — master's elephant. About half a 

 pound of clarified butter, and the same amount of salt should be 

 allowed daily with the food ; and spice-balls should be administered 

 about once a week. Besides these rations an elephant devours an 

 enormous amount of fodder. The principal substances given him are 

 the branches of various trees of the fig tribe, banyan, peepul, and 

 goolar. The leaves of the peepul are eaten, but should be avoided 

 in the hot season for reasons before mentioned. Of the others the 

 inner bark of the larger branches, and the whole substance of smaller 

 twigs alone are eaten. It is astonishing to observe the adroitness 

 with which the elephant peels ofi" the delicate inner bark in long 

 strips, and rejects all the rest. This fastidiousness necessitates an 

 immense supply of branches every day; and the elephant always goes 

 out with his keeper to bring in as much as he can carry at a time. The 

 bamboo is also eaten, but will not be accepted very long at a time. 

 Other trees are also eaten in the jungle, but as they arc seldom 



