288 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



along which the herd of elephants is accustomed to 

 proceed ; it is then covered over with branches of trees, 

 and above them with leaves, grass, and twigs. The 

 elephant, mistaking this covering for the real surface 

 of the ground, steps on it, the branches give way under 

 his weight, and he falls into the pit below. Although 

 the fall is not great — not more than eight feet or so 

 — it is very apt to seriously injure the elephant, and 

 on this account this mode of capture is but seldom 

 resorted to. 



Elephants are so extremely cautious in testing the 

 strength and stability of any bridges or embankments 

 before they venture on them that it certainly seems 

 surprising that they should be so easily deceived by 

 these " ogees." I suppose that in the forest, suspecting 

 no evil, they are less cautious. I once saw an " ogee " ; 

 it was in the forest just below the Shewalics. A female 

 elephant and her infant had lately been captured in it. 

 The mother, I think, had been hurt by her fall; the 

 infant was none the worse for it. I subsequently 

 made his acquaintance ; he was a most amusing little 

 creature ; he was about the height of a small donkey, but 

 so broad, and with such thick legs and massive body, 

 that he seemed almost like a solid block, and so strong 

 that he would almost have pulled against an English 

 cart-horse. 



The elephants in these forests, as I have said, are but 

 seldom caught. I am glad to be able to add that neither 

 are they ever shot, that is, except those solitary ones 

 that are dangerous. That barbarous destruction of the 

 elephant for the sake of his tusks that prevails in 



