ELEPHANTS. 251 



led to the curtailment of the wasteful methods of trapping them 

 practised by native hunters, the wild elephant now enjoys perfect 

 immunity throughout the Western Ghauts and those boundless 

 forests extending for hundreds of miles along the foot of the 

 Himalayas into Burmah and Siam. The number annually caught 

 by the Government hunting establishment in Dacca (the only one 

 at present in India), and by licensed native hunters is, com- 

 paratively speaking, very small ; and there is no doubt that all 

 the forest ground that can be legitimately allowed to the wild 

 elephants is as fully occupied at present as is desirable. The 

 elephant-catching records of the past fifty years attest the fact 

 that there is no diminution in the numbers now obtained in 

 Bengal, whilst in Southern India elephants have become so 

 numerous of late years that they are annually appearing in places 

 where they had never been heard of before." The concluding 

 paragraph of his valuable and satisfactory communication is one 

 that should find a response in the hearts of all interested in the 

 animal world. He says : " I am sure it will be regarded as a 

 matter for hearty congratulation by all that so grand, interesting, 

 useful, and harmless an animal as is the elephant is in no danger 

 of becoming extinct in India. Though small portions of its haunts 

 have been cleared for tea and coffee cultivation, the present forest 

 area of the country will probably never be practically reduced 

 for reasons connected with the timber supply and climate ; and 

 as long as its haunts remain, the elephant must flourish under 

 due regiilations for its protection." 



In Ceylon, some years ago, the elephants were also being per- 

 petually hunted by sportsmen and shot by the native hunters, who 

 were anxious to get the Government reward which was then paid 

 as an encouragement to the slaughter of the animals, that they 

 were rapidly being exterminated from this island. The Government 

 fortjmately saw their error in time, withdrew the inducement for 

 their destruction, and, in its place, issued strict rules for the 

 protection of the remaining elephants. Under this altered state 

 of affairs, the Ceylon animals are again becoming somewhat more 



plentiful. 



The necessity of this change of law was shown in an entertaining 



