124 MAMMALIA. 



tions. Its colour is dull earthy, approaching to brown. Albinos 

 occur rarelj', and are greatly prized by the monarchs of Ava and 

 Siam, who maintain them in regal state, lodge them in their 

 palaces, and have them served magnificently by a numerous 

 retinue. 



Until lately, the Asiatic Elephants were, in modern times, the 

 only ones that were domesticated.* It must be observed, too, that 

 those which are emploj^ed are not born in captivity. They are 

 wild Elephants that have been tamed. These animals live always 

 in troops. Those which are met with isolated from the others 

 have been driven out of the band, and are commonly known 

 as " rogue Elephants" to the inhabitants of India and Ceylon. 



If it had not been for the presence of Man upon the earth, the 

 Elephant Avould possibly have become the lord of creation. But 

 Man keeps it in subjection. He has succeeded in appropriating 

 this powerful and intelligent servant to his use. The following is 

 the way most commonly used in Asia for getting possession of the 

 wild Elephants, and for domesticating them. 



When the inhabitants of India, of Siam, &c., have discovered 

 a troop of Elephants, or only two or three little groups of these 

 animals, which can easily be gathered together, the natives of the 

 neighbouring districts get together and surround them. Pro- 

 vided with fire-arms, drums, trumpets, and fusees — in a word, 

 with everjrthing calculated to terrifj- — they form a circle round 

 them, and, little bj^ little, drive them towards a cunningly pre- 

 pared enclosure, the entrance of which, adorned with the leafy 

 branches of trees, resembles a road through the woods. This 

 avenue becomes narrower and narrower, and ultimately comes 

 to an end in an enclosure formed of the trunks of trees arranged 

 as a palisade, and containing a deep ditch or hole. 



The drove of Elephants, thus pursued, arrives at the entrance 

 to the trap. The chief, who precedes and guides the band, 

 hesitates a long while before he will enter it. He is attracted 

 however by fruits and the stalks of those plants of which he is 

 most fond, such as sugar-canes and bananas, and which have been 

 placed there by the Elephant-catchers. 



* The African Elephants in the London Zoological Gardens are fully as tract- 

 able as the Asiatic, and are equally intelligent. Already, since the British campaign 

 in Abyssinia, some African Elephants have been tamed and put to uses in that 

 country. — Ed. 



