180 MAMMALIA, (Cuar, VI. 
CHAP. VI. 
THE ELEPHANT. 
The Captives. 
As our sleeping-place was not above two hundred 
yards from the corral, we were frequently awakened by 
the din of the multitude who were bivouacking in the 
forest, by the merriment round the watch-fires, and now 
and then by the shouts with which the guards repulsed 
some sudden charge of the elephants in attempts to 
force the stockade. But at daybreak, on going down to 
the corral, we found all still and vigilant. The fires 
were allowed to die out as the sun rose, and the watchers 
who had been relieved were sleeping near the great 
fence, the enclosure on all sides being surrounded by 
crowds of men and boys with spears or white peeled 
wands about ten feet long, whilst the elephants within 
were huddled together in a compact group, no longer 
turbulent and restless, but exhausted and calm, and 
utterly subdued by apprehension and amazement at all 
that had been passing around them. 
Nine only had been as 
1 In some of the elephant hunts 
conducted in the southern provinces 
of Ceylon by the earlier British 
Governors, as many as 170 and 
200 elephants were secured in a 
single corral, of which a portion 
only were taken out for the public 
service, and the rest shot, the 
motive being to rid the neighbour- 
yet entrapped?, of which 
hood of them, and thus protect 
the crops from destruction. In the 
present instance, the object being 
to secure only as many as were 
required for the Government stud, 
it was not sought to entrap more 
than could conveniently be attended 
to and trained after capture. 
