DECOY ELEPHAXTS. 113 



elephant raised with her trunk the rope which had been at- 

 tached to her foot, succeeded in carrying it to her mouth, and 

 would have bitten it through and escaped, but was prevented 

 by a tame elephant placing his foot on the rope, and pressing it 

 -downward out of her jaws,. On another occasion, the Same au- 

 thority says a tame animal watched her opportunity, and placed 

 her foot under that of the wild one as he raised it, so as to pre- 

 vent his replacing it upon the ground, enablmg the nooser to 

 attach the rope. 



In all this though the tame elephants bend all their energies 

 to securing the captives, and seem to really enjoy what is going 

 on, they show no malignity, carefully avoid doing any injury to 

 the prisoners, and even when it is necessary in binding new ani- 

 mals to walk over those already secured — usually sprawling 

 on the ground struggling to get free — they take the utmost 

 pains not to tread on them. 



When first secured, the elephant struggles fiercely to break 

 his bonds, writhing in a manner one would think impossible for 

 so bulky and unwieldly an animal. Failing in this, he seems 

 to give way to despair, and utters the most pitiable moans. 

 Food is now placed within their reach, which at first they spurn 

 indignantly, the older ones frequently trampling it under foot. 

 The milder ones, as they become composed, allow themselves 

 to be tempted by the delicacies before them, and commence list- 

 lessly chewing the juicy morsels. The mellow notes of a kan- 

 dyan flute sometimes aid in soothing and composing the cap- 

 tives. It may be remarked that elephants are greatly influenced 

 by music, being soothed and quieted by soft plaintive melodies, 

 while it is also recorded that in the old wars in which they were 

 used, their courage in battle was excited by the martial strains. 



The last operation of the corral is to slacken the ropes and 

 march each captive elephant down to the river between two 

 tame ones. Both of the tame elephants are furnished with 

 strong collars, and a similar collar is formed on the neck of the 

 wild one, who stands between them, by successive coils of coco- 

 nut ; then these collars are connected, and the prisoner made 

 secure between his guards. Then the nooses which have con- 

 fined his feet are removed, and the three animals march to the 

 river, where they are allowed to bathe. After the bath the 

 captive elephant is made fast to some tree in the forest, keepers 

 are assigned to him, as well as a retinue of leaf-cutters, whose 

 duty it is to keep him supplied with such food as he most rel- 

 ishes. These arrangements being made, he is left to the care 

 of his new masters, who will see that he is trained up m the 

 way he should go. 



