HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 12? 



very much shaken and jaded by resisting the downward 

 impulse. Their place of best, or at all events of longest 

 continued motion, is upon level ground. 



Such is a summary of the greater part of what is known 

 of the elephant in a state of nature; and it relates wholly, 

 or chiefly, to the Asiatic species, for the African one is 

 hardly known, except as a hunted animal, for his tusks, 

 his flesh, or both an elephant being a feast of many days 

 to the inhabitants of an African villa.ge. 



But from the length of time that the elephant has been 

 pressed into the service of man, for purposes of ostenta- 

 tion or for labor, makes him interesting as connected with 

 human history. Our notice of him in this way must be 

 very brief, but it would be incomplete if we did not pre- 

 pare it by a short -account of the manner in which ele- 

 phants are captured. This we shall take in substance, 

 but in a very abridged form, from the account given by 

 Mr. Corse Scott, and first published in the Asiatic Re- 

 searches. We shall do this because it is the production 

 of a man of practice, as well as intelligence, drawn up 

 from his own experience as a regular elephant catcher, at 

 a time when these animals were in much demand in 

 India. 



Previous to the hunt, some of the most intelligent of the 

 natives, who are conversant with the woods, and experi- 

 enced in discovering the elephants without alarming them, 

 are sent out to find the herd, and to note particularly the 

 direction in which it is ranging ; for as elephants clear the 

 pasture before them almost as completely as reapers, they 

 range on a course for the distance of many miles. When 

 they are discovered, the Jceddah is constructed at a consid- 

 erable distance in front of them, but in the line of their 

 advance ; and all things being thus ready, they proceed 

 to the capture, which is a matter requiring great skill and 

 attention, and by no means unattended with danger. 

 When a herd is discovered, about three hundred people 



