THE ELEPHANT 61 



come to be captured and domesticated or, at all 

 events, trained to fulfil some useful mission in the 

 Great Continent's future development, much in 

 the same way as has been done in India ; but I 

 have since come to feel that the difiiculties in the 

 way of such a project would be practically in- 

 surmountable, and, even if it proved successful, 

 it would be hampered by so many disadvantages 

 as completely to nullify the benefits hoped for. 



To begin with, the conveyance of a complete 

 kedah establishment to capture the great beasts, 

 from India to Africa, accompanied as it would 

 necessarily be by a numerous and highly paid 

 trained staff, would be excessively costly. In 

 the second place, the Indian animal being much 

 smaller, it is doubtful if he would be capable 

 of controlling his larger, fiercer, and more active 

 African congener. Moreover, as has been pointed 

 out by competent authorities on the subject, 

 the herds of African elephants having such an 

 immense radius of movement, the difficulties 

 of their capture would be heightened, and the 

 usual deliberate arrangement of the kedah estab- 

 hshment rendered practically impossible. Finally, 

 even if the domestication of African elephants 

 proved successful, the necessary outlay for their 

 maintenance would render their employment 

 for ordinary purposes far too costly ; for whilst 

 an elephant consumes 800 to 1000 lbs. weight of 

 food per day, and will only carry about three- 

 quarters of a ton, the same weight can be con- 

 veyed by twenty-eight porters, whose daily 

 ration of rice or maize would not exceed 56 lbs. 



