144 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Method of catching wild elephants. 



dicularly between his legs, where the folds of the 

 Inindahs intersect each other. A strong cable 

 with a running noose is then put round each 

 hind leg, and again above them several additi- 

 onal bimdahs are made fast in the same manner as 

 the others were. 



" The putting on these cords generally takes 

 up ahout twenty minutes, during which time the 

 most profound silence is observed, and the hunt- 

 ers, who lie flat upon the necks of the females, 

 are screened from the goondah's observation hy a 

 covering of dark coloured cloth. 



" While the people are employed in tying the 

 legs of the goondah, he caresses sometimes one, 

 and sometimes another of his seducers; and he 

 is so well secured by the pressure of a female on 

 each side, and one behind, that he can hardly 

 turn himself, or see any of the people who keep 

 under the belly of the third female, which stands 

 across his tail. If, however, the goondah happen 

 to break loose, the hunters can, upon the first 

 alarm, mount on the backs of the tame elephants, 

 by a rope that hangs ready for the purpose, and 

 thus elude the effects of his fury. This, how- 

 ever, happens but very seldom. 



When the goondah's hind legs are properly 

 secured, the hunters retire to a little distance, and 

 he naturally attempts to follow the females; but, 

 finding his legs tied, he is roused to a proper 

 sense of his situation, and retreats toward the 

 jungle: the hunters follow, at a moderate dis- 



