ELEPHANTS. 541 



one by one by relays. When the wild tusker is sound asleep, the females close up 

 around him, upon which two of the mahouts slip off, and tie his hind-legs securely 

 together. Sometimes this is all that is then done, but in other cases he is made 

 fast to a tree. When awakened, the male, if tied to a tree, makes every effort to 

 escape, but in vain ; while, when his legs are merely hobbled, he makes off in the 

 best way he can. In the latter case he is followed by the females until exhausted, 

 when he is made fast to a neighbouring tree. The efforts made by elephants thus 

 caught to escape from their trammels, frequently produce such injuries as to result 

 in the death of a large percentage of the number. 



The pitfall mode is chiefly or entirely employed by natives, and 

 is a barbarous one, owing to the frequency with which the bones of 

 the animals are broken or dislocated in the fall. To obviate this a bar is usually 

 fixed across the middle of the pit, which, although itself broken, somewhat mitigates 

 the shock of the fall. The pits are about fifteen feet in depth, by ten and a half in 

 length, and seven and a half in width ; this relatively small area being intended to 

 hinder the animal from digging his way out with his tusks. It is remarkable that 

 an animal which displays such caution in venturing over bridges and other artificial 

 structures as does the Indian elephant, should so readily fall into these pits. 



The fourth method of capture employed in India is by far the 

 most exciting, and is in fact a simple chase. Three or four fast tame 

 elephants, each carrying a mahout on its neck, a nooser kneeling on a small pad on 

 the back, and a driver near the tail, are fitted with a girth round the body, attached 

 to which is a rope with a running noose. When the wild elephants are approached, 

 they make off at their topmost speed, closely followed by the tame ones. Two of 

 the tame elephants select a single wild animal, and urged to their utmost speed by 

 the blows of a spiked mallet wielded by the drivers behind, perhaps eventually 

 come alongside of it. When this takes place, the nooses are thrown, and generally 

 encircle the victim by the neck. The tame elephants are then checked, but if this is 

 done too suddenly the captive may be choked ; indeed, the whole party are liable 

 to injury from being dragged down ravines or other precipitous places ; and the 

 work is at all times very harassing to the tame animals employed. This method, 

 which is only employed in Bengal and Nipal, has the further disadvantage that 

 only the less fleet, and therefore inferior, animals can be captured by its means. 



In Ceylon wild elephants are noosed by a couple of hunters on 

 foot, who with marvellous skill encircle the hind-legs of an animal 

 running away from them, and make fast the end of the trailing rope to a tree. 



An immature female elephant is worth about 150 (we presume 



counting the rupee at its nominal value of two shillings), while good 



working females will fetch from 200 to 300. Tuskers are, however, far more 



valuable, ranging from 800 to 1500 or 1600, or even more if all their "points" 



be perfect. 



Uses of The domesticated elephant is largely employed in India for the 



Elephants, transport of heavy camp-equipage, for dragging timber to the rivers, 



and in lieu of horses for artillery ; and is of especial value in traversing districts 



where roads are either wanting, or are so bad as to be impassable for other animals 



when laden. Elephants may be employed either as beasts of burden or of draught ; 



