WHERE DO ELEPHANTS DIE 1 57 



and was then a calf of three years of age. She is still, at 76, in 

 good working condition, and does not present the appearance of a particu- 

 larly aged elephant, which is always shown in the lean and rugged head, 

 prominent bones, deeply-sunk temples, and general appearance of decay. 

 Bheemruttee is, however, past her prime. 



In captivity she has lived under much less favourable conditions than a 

 wild elephant, in being exposed to heat, often underfed, and subjected to 

 irregularities of all kinds. Amongst newly-caught elephants I have seen 

 many females evidently older than Bheemruttee with young calves at heel. 

 Mahouts believe that female elephants breed up to about 80 years of age. 



One of the most remarkable facts in connection with elephants is the 

 extreme rarity of any remains of dead ones being found in the jungles. 

 Tliis circumstance is so marked as to have given rise to the notion amongst 

 the Sholagas of the Billiga-rungun hills that elephants never die ; whilst the 

 Kurrabas of Kakankot^ believe that there is a place, unseen by human eye, 

 to which they retire to end their days. In my own wanderings for some 

 years through elephant-jungles I have only seen the remains of one female 

 (that we knew had died in calving), and one drowned elephant brought 

 down by a mountain torrent. ISTot only have I never myself seen the 

 remains of any elephant that had died a natural death, but I have never 

 met any one amongst the jungle -tribes, or professional elephant-hunters, 

 who had seen a carcass, except at a time when murrain visited the Chitta- 

 gong and Kakankote forests. Bones would not decay for some years, and 

 teeth and tusks would survive for some time, yet not a single pair of ivories 

 has ever, as far as I know, been found in the Mysore jungles during the 

 time I have known them. In Chittagong, in January 1876, I found a 

 portion of a large tusk in a morass, much eaten by exposure ; it weighed 

 33 lb. Another was found in Tipperah, almost fossUised, weighing 36 lb. ; 

 there were no other remains in either case. 



The fact of remains of bison, deer, and other wild animals seldom being 

 found is equally singular. Their bones would be sooner disposed of than 

 those of elephants ; still it is strange that, except in cases of epidemics 

 amongst these animals, they are hardly ever seen. Certain classes of wild 

 animals may possibly retreat to quiet localities when they find their 

 powers failing them, as places where alarms and necessity for flight are 

 unlikely to' overtake them. But this is not the case with such gregarious 

 animals as elephants. It may be supposed that in tliick forests vultures 

 •do not attract attention to their carcasses, and monsoon rains and jungle- 

 ^res soon dispose of them. Still one would think that some carcasses at 

 ^east would be found, whereas they uever are ; and though it is certain 



