THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 



stalks before the rush of three or four of them, but 

 no such rush has been^nade. More significant still, 

 I have, on several occasions, seen a single elephant 

 in a herd, by a bold dash, burst through the palisade 

 and effect its escape, but I never yet saw any other 

 elephant follow, and the hunters have at once re- 

 paired the breach. 



"When a herd of wild elephants is secured within 

 a stockade, or kheddah, the mahouts ride trained 

 elephants amongst the wild ones without fear, 

 though any one of the wild ones might, by a move- 

 ment of his trunk, dislodge the men. This they 

 never do. Single elephants are caught by being 

 bound to trees by men under cover of a couple of 

 tame elephants, the wild one being ignorant of 

 what is going on until he finds himself secured. 

 Escaped elephants are retaken without trouble; 

 even experience does not bring them wisdom. 

 Almost yearly, one or two tame elephants of the 

 hunting establishment at Dacca are lost in the 

 jungles by straying, or other accident, whilst en- 

 gaged in the capture of their fellows. As an ex- 

 ample, in December, 1878, an elephant which had 

 been captured three years, and partially trained to 

 hunting, took fright at the fires and guns used in 

 driving a herd, and ran away. Her mahout fell off, 

 and nothing more was seen of her until March 

 last, when we recaptured her after four and a half 

 years' absence, in a herd of twenty-one elephants, 

 100 miles from where she was lost. She had a calf 

 at heel. When pricked with a spear, and ordered 

 to kneel, she did so promptly, and in three days 

 she, and another reclaimed runaway, were employed 

 in the capture of their fellows. Whilst such facts 

 testify to the docility of the elephant, they tell 

 heavily against its intelligence 



" The government kheddah plan is the most cer- 

 tain and economical method of taking wild elephants. 

 As many as 1 18 have been secured in one drive by 

 this means. ... A kheddah party of 370 men 

 having been collected, it marches to the hunting 

 grounds, sometimes 200 miles distant, where a base 

 camp is ready, and where the establishment of tame 

 elephants, generally from 100 to 150, has been col- 

 lected, together with the stores, tools, and ropes 

 required for the operations. Muskets and rations 

 having been delivered to the men, and religious 

 ceremonies for success having been performed, the 

 hunters enter the jungle. The trackers of the party 

 have probably already marked down a herd, where- 

 upon the hunters approach to within a mile, and then 

 divide under two experienced leaders, one half filing 

 Vol. 11. 



33 



off to the right, and the other to the left, their 

 object being to enclose the herd in a large circle by 

 meeting beyond it. A man is left at every 30 

 yards or so along the lines, according to the nature 

 of the ground. The skill with which this move- 

 ment is effected is very remarkable, as the ground 

 is usually quite unknown to the hunters, and the 

 difficulty of crossing streams and hills, of forcing 

 their way through dense jungle where no path 

 exists, and of gaining the point they are making 

 for without a compass, is considerable. 



"The circle, when completed, is often five or six 

 miles in circumference. A large one, with men 

 posted fifty yards apart or so, is more efficient in 

 keeping in a herd than a smaller one with" men 

 much closer. Unless plenty of room be allowed to 

 the elephants, they are liable to break through the 

 cordon of guards; but it is a maxim in elephant 

 catching that, the circle having once been formed, 

 a herd can only escape through accident or great 

 carelessness. It usually takes three or four hours 

 to surround elephants. In a couple of hours the 

 hunters run up a thin fence of split bamboos round 

 the enclosure, and clear a path for communication 

 between each others' posts. Their chief duty then 

 is to see that the elephants do not break out of the 

 circle. The animals seldom give trouble during 

 the day ; at night large fires are kept up, and shouts 

 and shots are used to drive them back should they 

 approach. The bamboo fencing serves to show the 

 chief hunters, who patrol the circle at intervals, 

 where the elephants have broken out should they 

 escape, so that the particular men who are to blame 

 can be detected. This investment of the elephants 

 may have to be maintained for a week, sometimes 

 for a month, if the elephants cannot be secured in 

 the first attempts. 



"The elephants usually give some little trouble for 

 the first two nights, but their conservative nature 

 then seems to lead them to believe that there are 

 set bounds to their wanderings ; and unless fodder 

 or water becomes scarce, they seldom try to force 

 the guards. A small herd always gives more trouble 

 than a large one. The former may only be a 

 wandering party from some large body of elephants 

 not far away; it then shows a strong desire to break 

 through to join its companions. A small herd, too, 

 probably has no calves with it, which is a great dis- 

 advantage, as it is then restless and quick in its 

 movements. And a herd of a dozen elephants or 

 so may be well in command of one courageous 

 leader; whereas, in a large gathering, timid animals 



37 



