139 DR. A. CAMPBKT-L ON THE INDIAN KLEPHANT. [Feb. 25, 



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 

 ferociuu'5. The females and young males take instant alarm at the 

 approach cf 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 somethnes noose 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 Nimnxl, 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 distiuclicns " gained, he used to take a short leave to his 

 liome, 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 GO." We may safely 

 ])ut 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 twenty koonkis. 



Altho\igh 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 Clioora Bundur, on the Bootan frontier, who has been an Ele- 

 phant-catcher for many years, says the period of gestation is twenty- 

 two lunar mouths ; 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 q\ute authentic, t. e. the conception, gestation, and 

 birtii. 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 184/ ; 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 mider 

 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 wav of a sucking Ele- 



