THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 173 
measures for securing its continuance, and relying upon 
the certainty of being enabled by their hunting to keep 
up a sufficient supply. But there can be little doubt, 
from what we observe in other animals, that had a 
domesticated breed of Elephants existed from the times 
when their services were first made available to man, 
they would have been far superior both in sagacity and 
docility to the half-reclaimed individuals at present em- 
ployed. 
It may readily be supposed that the taming of these 
wild and unwieldy creatures is a task of no little diffi- 
culty and delicacy: but the experienced keepers by 
whom it is undertaken seldom fail to execute it with 
success. It is effected partly by reducing the strength 
of the animal by restricting him in the quantity of his 
food, by the employment of caresses or of castigation 
according to the dispositions he may manifest, by occa- 
sionally indulging him in sweetmeats or in other dainty 
fare, and by subjecting him to the control of the tame 
elephants, and especially of the females, which are more 
commonly employed for this purpose. By the appli- 
cation of these means the space of a fortnight is generally 
sufficient to reduce him to a certain degree of tameness, 
and in less than six months he is trained to the various 
exercises which it is intended that he should perform, 
and his education is regarded as complete. They do not, 
however, always become familiar and habituated to their 
new mode of life even within this period of time; for, 
according to the statement of Mr. Corse, Elephants have 
been known to stand twelve months at their pickets 
without lying down to sleep; and this is regarded as a 
certain sign of want of confidence in their keepers and of 
