126 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



elephants and bison seek the streams near the base of the hills, the 

 members of the Forest Department return to the low lands to escape 

 the fever, and the forest is then inhabited only by wild beasts. At 

 the time of my visit, July 4th, the members of the Forest Depart- 

 ment had come only the pre^'ious week from the plains ; the ele- 

 phants were beginning to come do'o-n from the higher ranges to 

 feed upon the young bamboo shoots, and the whole forest appeai-ed 

 at its best. 



In India, the elephant is a very useful and valuable animal when 

 trained to service, and large numbers are caught annually by Gov- 

 ernment ofi&cers aj)pointed for this work in the Coimbatore Dis- 

 trict, at CoUegal, in Mysore, and in Chittagong. Formerly wild 

 elephants were so numerous in many parts of India that they were 

 regarded as a nuisance and a Government reward of £7 per head 

 was paid for killing them. Through the efforts of sportsmen and 

 native shikarees theii* numbers were reduced to the proper limit, 

 whereupon the reward was discontinued and a fine imposed to pre- 

 vent their destruction. At present, elej^hants are rigidly protected 

 by law all over India, although it is very evident that their numbers 

 will soon increase so much as to render further elephant shooting 

 jDOsitively necessary. 



In 1873 an act was passed to " prevent the indiscriminate de- 

 struction of wild elephants upon waste or forest land," not only in 

 the Madras Presidency, but any of the " native territories for the 

 time being subject to that government." The penalty for shooting 

 a female elei:)hant was for the first offence a fine not exceeding 

 five hundred rupees, or three months' impi'isonment, and for the 

 second conviction the penalty was double the first. Shooting wild 

 "male elephants was also prohibited under the same penalty as fixed 

 for the killing of females, except it be done under a proper au- 

 thorization. The act provides that any zemindar or native pro- 

 prietor of land may shoot male elephants on his own land, and may 

 also authorize others to do the same. Of course, any person is au- 

 thorized to shoot any elephant in defence of himself or any other 

 person, or to save his crop from destruction. Any native prince 

 owning territory frequented by elephants may, if he choose, grant 

 permission for male elephants to be shot, and the law provides that 

 each District Collector shall have the same discretionary power, 

 conditionally, although up to the time of my visit, the latter officers 

 had always refused to give any such permission. 



Before I came to the Animallais my friend Theobald had offered 



