THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 243 



great sagacity and caution it falls into them readily. The 

 pits are dug 



(1) In a confined area such as a narrow pass over a range 

 of hills, the pit being dug at a season when the elephants are 

 absent from the area. 



(2) Under certain trees which elephants are known to 

 visit to eat the leaves or fruit. 



(3) In groups in areas frequented by elephants. 



The arrangement of these pits is very skilful. An open 

 one is often left exposed whilst one or two others, dug 

 close by, are carefully covered up with a light branchwood 

 lattice-work which is overlaid with earth, twigs and leaves, 

 so as to closely resemble the rest of the forest floor in the 

 neighbourhood. In avoiding the open pit the elephant falls 

 into one of the concealed ones. Or, again, a group of pits 

 are dug at varying intervals in a comparatively small area. 

 When an elephant falls into one of these some of the rest 

 of the herd, in scattering panic-stricken, fall into neigh- 

 bouring ones. 



Or, again, the pit may be dug at the end of a large fallen 

 tree. The elephant in going round the tree falls into the pit. 



In Mysore the pits dug by the natives are ten and a half 

 feet long by seven and a half feet broad and fifteen feet deep. 

 This space by no means gives too much room to the elephant 

 falling in, especially if it is a large one. The reason for 

 keeping the pits small is to obviate the risk of the tuskers 

 being able to use their tusks to dig themselves out by 

 scraping down the sides of the pits. If left undisturbed for 

 a couple of days after falling into a pit, male tuskers are 

 said to be usually able to perform this operation and so 

 escape. To prevent the animal sustaining injury in the fall 

 either through broken limbs or internal injury due to the great 

 drop to the bottom of the pit or to minimise this danger 

 so far as possible, a strong bar is fixed across the mouth of the 

 pit, about the centre, upon which the neck of the elephant 

 usually strikes. The bar generally breaks under the great 

 weight or at least bends, but its presence causes the animal 

 to fall more or less horizontally on its feet. The shock of the 

 fall could also be reduced by means of a thick cushion of 

 branches placed at the bottom, but the natives digging the 

 pit rarely bother to take this precaution owing to the extra 

 labour involved. 



Both in Mysore and in Madras in former times a large 



