406 



ELEPHAN1. 



desires are excited, and his attention diverted from 

 the hunters, and in these amorous dalliances he is 

 indulged by the females. He is now generally so 

 firmly secured by the pressure of the tamed elephants 

 on each side, and by the one behind, that he can 

 hardly turn himself or see any of the people, who 

 always kept snug under the belly of the third female 

 that stands behind, and serves both to keep him 

 steady, and to prevent his kicking any of the people 

 who are employed in securing him ; but in general 

 he is so much taken up with his decoyers, as to attend 

 very little to anything else. In case of accidents, 

 however, should he break loose, the people upon the 

 first alarm can always mount on the back of the 

 tamed elephants by means of a rope that hangs ready 

 for the purpose, and thus get out of his reach. When 

 his hind legs are properly secured, they leave him 

 to himself, and retire to a small distance ; but, as soon 

 as the females go away, he attempts to follow them, 

 but, finding his legs tied, he is roused to a proper 

 sense of his situation, and retreats towards the forest. 

 The hunters now follow at a moderate distance on 

 the females, accompanied by a number of people 

 that had been previously sent for, and who, as soon as 

 the wild elephant passes near a stout tree, make a few 

 turns of the long cables that are trailing behind him, 

 around its trunk. His progress being thus stopped, he 

 becomes furious, and exerts his utmost force to dis- 

 engage himself ; nor will he then allow any of the 

 females to come near him, but is outrageous for some 

 time, falling down, and goring the earth with his 

 tusks. 



Should the cables once break by these exertions, 

 which sometimes is effected, and he escapes into the 

 forest, the hunters dare not advance for fear of the 

 other wild elephants, and are therefore obliged to 

 leave him to his fate ; and, in this hampered situation, 

 it is said he is even ungenerously attacked by the 

 other wild elephants. As the cables are very strong 

 and rarely give way, such accidents seldom occur. 

 When he has by his exertions exhausted himself, the 

 trained elephants are again brought near, and take their 

 former positions. After getting him nearer the tree, 

 the people carry the ends of the long cables round 

 his legs, then back and about the trunk of the tree, 

 making if they can two or three turns, so as, to pre- 

 vent even the slightest possibility of his escape. To 

 confine him from moving to either side, and for far- 

 ther security, his fore legs are tied exactly in the 

 same manner as the hind legs were. With all the 

 expedition possible, he is now harnessed in the same 

 manner as those already described, and conducted to 

 his proper station. As soon as each of the elephants 

 is thus secured, he is left in charge to a keeper, who 

 is appointed to attend and instruct him, and four or 

 five inferior servants, in order to assist and supply 

 food and water, till he becomes so tractable as to 

 bring the former himself. 



The first object of the keeper is to gain his confi- 

 dence, and, for this purpose, he constantly supplies 

 him with food, and soothes and caresses him by a 

 variety of little arts. Sometimes, however, the keeper 

 threatens, and even goads him with a long stick 

 pointed with iron, but more generally coaxes and 

 flatters him, scratching his head and trunk with a long 

 bamboo, split at one end into several pieces, and 

 driving away the flies from any sores occasioned by 

 the hurts and bruises he got by his efforts to escape. 

 The keeper likewise keeps him cool by squirting 



water over his body. In a few days he advances 

 cautiously to his side, and pats and strokes him with 

 his hand, speaking all the while to him, in a soothing 

 tone of voice, and in a little time he begins to know 

 his keeper, and to obey his commands. 



The keeper at length by degrees becomes familiar 

 to him, gets upon his back from one of the tame 

 elephants, and as the animal becomes more tractable, 

 he advances gradually forward, till at last he is per- 

 mitted to seat himself on his neck, from which place 

 he afterwards regulates all his motions. The iron 

 hook with which they direct him is pretty heavy, 

 about sixteen inches long, with a straight spike ad- 

 vancing a little beyond the curve of the hook. When 

 he wishes to turn him, he catches one of his ears 

 with this instrument, and by pressing it into his skin 

 makes him move in any direction that is required. 

 While he is training in this manner, the tame ele- 

 phants lead out the others in turn for the sake of 

 exercise, and likewise to ease their legs from the cords 

 with which they are tied, and which are apt to gall 

 them severely, unless they are regularly slackened and 

 shifted. In the course of five or six weeks, the 

 elephant becomes obedient to his keeper, his fetters 

 are taken off by degrees, and generally in about five 

 or six months he suffers himself to be conducted by 

 his keeper from one place to another. Care, however, 

 is always taken not to let him approach his former 

 haunts, lest a recollection of the freedom he enjoyed 

 there should induce him to recover his liberty again. 

 This obedience to his conductor seems to proceed 

 partly from a sense of gratitude, as it is in some 

 measure voluntary ; for whenever an elephant takes 

 fright, or is determined to run away, all the exertions 

 of the keeper cannot prevent him, even by beating or 

 digging the pointed iron hook into his head with 

 which he directs him. On such an occasion, the 

 animal totally disregards the feeble efforts, otherwise 

 he could shake or pull him off with his trunk, and 

 dash him to pieces. Accidents of this kind happen 

 almost every year, especially to those keeper who 

 attend the large males, and are in general owing to 

 their own carelessness and neglect. 



The males are treated with much greater severity 

 than the females which is necessary to keep them in 

 awe ; but it is too common a practice among the 

 keepers either to be negligent in using proper means 

 to render their elephants tractable, or to trust too 

 much to their good nature, before they are acquainted 

 with their dispositions thoroughly. 



It will readily be understood that, in order to repay 

 all the labour and compensate all the risk with which 

 their capture is attended, elephants, when taken and 

 trained to docility, must be of great value ; and per- 

 haps we cannot give a more correct estimate, whereby 

 the value of an elephant may be compared with that 

 of other animals employed in draft or carriage, than 

 by stating that a male elephant full grown, of the 

 largest size, and in the best health and condition, can 

 carry about a ton weight, and travel with it fifty 

 miles in the course of twenty-four hours ; and that, 

 if properly used, he may perhaps retain this power 

 for a century or even more ; so that he who purchases 

 a good elephant may be said to purchase an estate 

 for his grandchild. Carrying is not the only useful 

 purpose to which those powerful animals can be ap- 

 plied ; for their weight and strength tell equally in 

 traction ; and in this respect their strength tells much 

 more in proportion to the strength of horses or bul- 



