1869.] DR. A. CAMPBELL ON THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 139 
ing, are the only solitary ones to be met with. Large males with a 
herd are rarely ventured on by the catchers; they are bold and 
ferocious. The females and young males take instant alarm at the 
approach of the koonkis; and sometimes a whole herd becomes 
bewildered with fright on seeing them, and breaks up in all directions. 
This is the harvest of the catchers, and a bold and expert ‘ phanait”’ 
will sometimes nocse three wild ones out of one herd. So soon as 
he can get his “phan” off the neck of a prostrate one, he sets 
upon another, and similarly on a third. This prowess and luck are 
rare, but they happen occasionally. Mr. P. had a phanait who did 
this two seasons. He was a “ Koch,” and the quietest, most un- 
pretending fellow in the world out of the keda. In the field he was 
a perfect Nimrod, full of energy and life, and for six or seven years 
he brought eight to twelve Elephants home annually of his own 
noosing. His pay was 10 rs. per mensem at home, 12 when in the 
field, and an annual present of a pair of silver bangles weighing 
20 rupees, and a pair of gold earrings worth 20 rs. more. ‘These 
‘honorary distinctions”’ gained, he used to take a short leave to his 
home, when he bestowed them on his wife, and again took to the 
forest in search of fresh laurels. 
““How many Elephants have you caught in your time?” I one 
day asked Mr. P. “I cannot tell you how many,” he replied; 
“but I was seven years engaged in the business ; one year I caught 
180, some years 1 got 100, some 80, some 60.’ We may safely 
put down 1000 to his name, I think; and this gives a pretty good 
idea of the supply and demand in this business. Mr. P.’s “keda”’ 
was always a strong one, ranging from ten to tweuty koonkis. 
Although I have set down eighteen months as the most generally 
adopted period of the Elephant’s going with young, I must state 
that it is not universal in this part of the country. Rambullub Sah 
of Choora Bundur, on the Bootan frontier, who has been an Ele- 
phant-catcher for many years, says the period of gestation is twenty- 
two lunar months; and this is supported by a case of gestation 
which originated in his own stables, and in which the union of the 
sexes was known and recorded—a very rare case in the tame state ; 
but this one is quite authentic, 7. e. the conception, gestation, and 
birth. The record of the period of gestation I have not seen, but 
all the people of Choora Bundur are familiar with the facts, and 
many of them corroborate the twenty-two months’ period. 
In 1849 I saw an infant Elephant that had been born in the Octo- 
ber of 1848. He was with his mother. She had been caught in 
June 1847; and although then pregnant, there were no signs of un- 
usual size until the January following. This case does not help to 
fix the limit of gestation ; but it proves that sixteen months is under 
that period. This female had immensely large breasts ; and I tried 
to procure some of the milk to taste, but in vain. She lay down on 
her side at the command of the Mohout, but swung her trunk about 
and roared when we commenced pulling her teats. The young one 
applied himself to the breasts every five minutes, and for a minute 
or so only. The trunk appears quite in the way of a sucking Ele- 
