The Elephant 57 



that was unintentional, and as a rule they roamed unmo- 

 lested among the solitudes of nature. 



Existence had its drawbacks, however. Elephants were 

 not eaten in Asia, and not hunted for their ivory to any 

 extent, but they were used in war, and the state of no 

 native prince could be complete unless he had an elephant 

 to ride on and several caparisoned animals for show. 

 Owing to these needs and fashions the animals were cap- 

 tured extensively. In many places at present small parties 

 of men, often only two or three, go on foot into the forests 

 as their predecessors did ages ago, each with a small bag of 

 provisions, and a green hide rope capable of being consider- 

 ably stretched. An elephant's track is almost as explicit 

 and full of information to them as a passport or descrip- 

 tive list, and when they have found the right one, it is 

 patiently followed till the beast that made it is discovered. 

 Then in the great majority of cases its fate is fixed. 

 Flight, concealment, resistance, are in vain. In some 

 " inevitable hour" a noose of plaited thongs that cannot 

 be broken is slipped around one of the hind feet, and a 

 turn or two quickly taken about a tree. A high-bred ele- 

 phant gives up when he finds that the first fierce struggle 

 for freedom is unavailing, but the meerga's resistance lasts 

 longer. After one leg has been secured it is easy to fetter 

 both, and then the captors camp in front of the animal in 

 order to accustom it to their presence. By degrees they 

 loosen its bonds, feed and pacify it. When anger is over, 

 and its terrors are dissipated, these men lead their captive 

 off to a market at some great fair, and they lie about what 

 they have done and what the elephant did, with a fertility 



