BOOK VIII. viii. 25-ix. 27 



would be if when a man held out a branch to them 

 they gently took it from him. At the present day 

 hunters for the sake of their tusks shoot them with 

 javeHns in the foot, which in fact is extremely soft. 

 The Cavemen on the frontier of Ethiopia, whose only 

 food is elephant meat obtained by hunting, cUmb 

 up trees near the elephants' track and there keep a 

 look out for the last of the whole column and jump 

 down on to the hind part of its haunches ; the tail is 

 grasped in the man's left hand and his feet are 

 planted on the animaFs left thigh, and so hanging 

 suspended, with his right hand and with a very 

 sharp axe he hamstrings one leg, and as the 

 elephant runs forward with its leg crippled he strikes 

 the sinews of the other leg, performing the whole 

 of these actions with extreme i-apidity. Others 

 employing a safer but less rehable method fix great 

 bows rather deep in the ground, unbent; these are 

 held in position by young men of exceptional strength, 

 while others striving with a united effort bend them, 

 and as the elephants pass by they shoot them with 

 hunting-spears instead of arrows and afterwards 

 follow the tracks of blood. 



IX. The females of the genus elephant are much TTaunno of 

 more timid than the males. Mad elephants can be */''"""*• 

 tamed by hunger and blows, other elephants being 

 brought up to one that is unmanageable to restrain 

 it with chains. Besides this they get very wild 

 when in heat and overthrow the stables of the 

 Indians with their tusks. Consequently they prevent 

 them from coupling, and keep the herds of females 

 separate, in just the same way as droves of cattle 

 are kept. Male elephants when broken in serve in 

 battle and carry castles manned with armed warriors 



voL. III. B 21 



