48 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE ASIATIC WILD ELEPHANT {ELEPIIAS IXDICUS). 



DISTRIBUTION OP THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT — HABITS OF WILD ELEPHANTS — NUMERICAL EX- 

 TENT OP HERDS — A FEMALE ALWAYS THE LEADER OF A HERD — THE ELEPHANT-FLY — 

 ELEPHANT CALVES — ELEPHANTS SWIMMING — ROGUE ELEPHANTS — THE MANDLA ELE- 

 PHANT — NIGHT SCENE AT THE HONGANOOR LAKE — DEPREDATIONS OF ELEPHANTS LESS 

 SERIOUS THAN USUALLY SUPPOSED — HEIGHT OP ELEPHANTS — MEASUREMENT OP FOOT — 

 AFRICAN ELEPHANTS — AGE ATTAINED BY ELEPHANTS — WHERE DO ELEPHANTS DIE ? — 

 NATIVE BELIEFS — MURRAIN AMONGST ELEPHANTS — PERIOD OP GESTATION — "MUST'"* 

 ELEPHANTS — FEMALE " MUST " ELEPHANTS — MEANS OP TELLING AGE OF ELEPHANTS — 

 AGE AT WHICH FEMALES BREED — TWO CALVES AT A BIRTH — HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OP 



CALVES AT BIRTH — THE FEMALE ELEPHANT'S AFFECTION FOR HER YOUNG SIZE OP 



INDIAN elephants' TUSKS — CONSIDERATION OP THE USES OF THEIR TUSKS TO ELE- 

 PHANTS — ABSENCE OP TUSKS IN CEYLON ELEPHANTS — MUCKNAS — GUN^SHES — FEMALE 

 elephants' tushes — PACES AND SPEED OF ELEPHANTS — INABILITY TO LEAP. 



MY observations of tlie habits of wild elephants have been made chiefly 

 at Morlay, near the Billiga-rungun hills, where I commenced elephant- 

 catching in Mysore, and also in the Goondulpet and Kakankotc forests, 

 where I had shot elephants previously, as well as in the Garrow and Chit- 

 tagong hills in Bengal. 



The wild elephant abounds in most of the large forests of India, from the 

 foot of the Himalayas to the extreme south, and throughout the peninsula 

 to the east of the Bay of Bengal — viz., Chittagong, Burmah, and Siam ; it is 

 also numerous in Ceylon. There is only one species of elephant throughout 

 these tracts. 



In Mysore large numbers frequent the forests of the AVestern Gliilts 

 which bound Mysore on the west and south, the ]>illiga-rungun hills in the 

 south-east, and a few are found in portions of the Nugger Division in the 

 extreme north. There being no heavy forests in the interior, olepliants do 

 not, as a rule, occur far within tlie borders of the province, but are com- 



