THE DISPOSITION OF THE ELEPHANT. 115 



The trainiiig is simple, and the intelligence and obedience oi 

 the pupil are developed with remarkable rapidity. For the first 

 three days, or until they will eat freely, which they seldom do 

 m a shorter time, the newly captured elephants are allowed to 

 remain perfectly quiet ; and if practicable, a tame elephant is 

 tied near them to give the wild ones confidence. Where many 

 elephants are being trained at once, it is customary to put each 

 new captive between the stalls of half-tamed ones, thereby in- 

 ducing it to more readily take to its food. The next stage of 

 the training process is commenced by placing a tame elephant 

 on each side of the pupil, with the " cooroowe vidahn," or head 

 of the stables, standing in front, holding a long stick with a 

 sharp iron point. Two men are then stationed one on either 

 side, each holdmg an iron instrument furnished with both a 

 sharp point and a hook. This is called a ^' hendoo '' in Ceylon, 

 and a ^^ hawlius " in Bengal, and is the principal weapon used 

 in guiding and controlliilg elephants, as it has been from very 

 ancient times. This instrument is held toward the animal's 

 trunk, while one or two assistants rub their hands ovei* his 

 back, keeping up while doing so a soothing and plaintive chant, 

 interspersed with endearing epithets, such as, " ho ! my son," or 

 " ho ! my father," or " my mother," as may be applicable to the 

 age and sex of the captive. At first the elephant is furious, and 

 strikes in all directions with his trunk; but the men in front 

 receiving these blows on the points of their weapons, the ex- 

 tremity of the trunk becomes so sore that 

 the animal curls it up close, and seldom 

 afterward attempts to use it offensiveJy. 

 The first dread of man's power being thus 

 established, the process of taking him to 

 bathe between two tame elephants is greatly 

 facilitated, and by lengthening the neck 

 rope, and drawing the feet together as close 

 ^ . . . . as possible, the process of laying him down 

 ' a rcprL^uatioJT'ofar^ ill ^Jie watcr is finally accomplished by the 

 ancient hendoo. kccpcrs prcsslug thc sharp points of their 



hendoos over the backbone. 



For many days the roaring and resistance which attend the 



with the whole weight of his fore-quarters resting on the points of his tusks. The strain 

 was fair, and the tusks did not yield ; but the portion of his head in which the tusks were 

 imbedded, extending a long way above the ej-e, j'ielded and burst with a mufTied crash." 

 " Sport" is noble, but a butcher is not necessarily a sportsman, and a useless destruc- 

 ton of life, where no more danger is incurred than in a butcher's shambles, is not an abso- 

 lute pro'>f of courage or heroism, and the "noble hunters " have not the butcher's excuse 

 for the bloodshed. Whatever of heroism there is in these encounters, we cannot help . 

 thinkiniT, is displayed by the elephants, and not by their aggressors. For a hunter to put 

 such achievements as wft liave just fjuoted on record merely displays the egotism aw) 

 cruelty of the man. 



