116 THE AET OF TRAINING ANIMALS. 



operation are considerable, and it often requires the sagacious 

 interference of the tame elephants to control the refractory wild 

 ones. It soon, however, becomes ^ 



practicable to Lave the latter jC ^ 



alone, only taking them to and *^ '^ 



from the stall by the aid of a Modera heodoo. 



decoy. This step lasts, under ordinary treatment, for about 

 three weeks, when an elephant may be taken alone with his 

 legs hobbled, and a man walkmg backward in front with the 

 pomt of the hendoo always presented to the elephant's head, 

 and a keeper with an iron crook at each ear. On getting into 

 the waifeer, the fear of being pricked on his tender back induces 

 him to lie down immediately on the crook being held over him 

 in terrorem. Once this point has been achieved, the farther 

 process of taming is dependent upon the disposition of the 

 creature. 



The greatest care is requisite, and ' daily medicines are ap- 

 plied to heal the fearful wounds on the legs which even the 

 softest ropes occasion. This is the great difficulty of training j 

 for the wounds fester grievously, and months and sometimes 

 years will elapse before an elephant will allow his -feet to be 

 touched without indications of alarm and auger. 



The observation has been frequently made that the elephants 

 most vicious and troublesome to tame, and the most worthless 

 when tamed, are those distinguished by a thm trunk and flabby 

 pendulous ears. The period of tuition does not appear to be in- 

 fluenced by the size or strength of the animals : some of the 

 smallest give the greatest amount of trouble ; whereas, in the 

 instance of the two largest that have been taken in Ceylon 

 within the last thirty years, both were docile in a remarkabie 

 degree. One in particular, fed fi'om the hand the first night it 

 was secured, and in a very few days eviuced pleasure on being 

 patted on the head. The males are generally more unmanage- 

 ble than the females, and in both an inclination to lie down to 

 rest is regarded as a favorable symptom of approaching tracta- 

 bility, some of the most resolute having been known to stand 

 for months together, even during sleep. Those which are the 

 most obstinate and violent at^first are the soonest and most 

 efi'ectually subdued, and generally prove permanently docile 

 and submissive. But those which are" sullen or morose, al- 

 though they may not provoke chastisement by tlieu- viciousness, 

 are always slower in being trained, and are rarely to be trusted 

 in after life. 



But whatever may be his natural gentleness and docility, the 

 temper of an elephant is seldom to be implicitly relied on in a 



