204 THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 
its intellectual faculties. Hundreds of these animals are annually captured, 
and ina very short period of time become whoily subjected to their owners, 
and learn to obey their commands with implicit submission. Indeed, the 
power of the human intellect is never so conspicuous as in the supremacy 
which man maintains over so gigantic and clever an animal as the Elephant. 
In all work which requires the application of great strength combined with 
singular judgment, the Elephant is supreme ; but as a mere puller and hauler it 
is of no very great value. In piling logs, for example, the Elephant soon learns 
the proper mode of arrangement, and will place them upon each other with 
a regularity that would not be surpassed by human workmen. Sir Emerson 
Tennent mentions a pair of Elephants that were accustomed to labour con- 
jointly, and which had been taught to raise their wood piles to a considerable 
height by constructing an inclined plane of sloping beams, and rolling the 
logs up the beams. 
There are two modes of capturing the Asiatic Elephant, the one by pur- 
suing solitary individuals and binding them with ropes as they wander at 
will through the forests, and the other by driving a herd of Elephants into a 
previously prepared pound, and securing the entrance so as to prevent their 
escape. 
athe former method, the hunters are aided by certain trained females, 
termed “koomkies,” which enter into the spirit of the chase with wonderful 
animation, and help their riders in every possible manner. When the 
koomkies see a fine male Elephant, they advance carelessly towards him, 
plucking leaves and grass, as if they were perfectly indifferent to his presence. 
He soon becomes attracted to them, when they overwhelm him with endear- 
ing feminine blandishments, and occupy his attention so fully that he does 
not observe the proceedings of the *‘mahouts,” or riders. These men, seeing 
the Elephant engaged with the “koomkies,” slip quietly to the ground and 
attach their rope nooses to his legs, fastening the ends of the cords to some 
neighbouring tree. Should no suitable tree be at hand, the koomkies are 
sagacious enough to comprehend the dilemma, and to urge their victim 
towards some large tree which is sufficiently strong to withstand his struggles. 
As soon as the preparations are complete the mahouts give the word of 
command to the koomkies, who move away, leaving the captive Elephant to 
his fate. ° 
Finding himself deserted and bound, he becomes mad with rage, and 
struggles with all his force to get free. In these furious efforts the Elephant 
displays a flexibility and activity of body that are quite surprising, and 
are by no ineans in accordance with the clumsy, stiff aspect of its body 
and limbs. It rolls on the ground in despair, it rends the air with furious 
cries of rage, it butts at the fatal tree with all its force, in hope of 
bringing it to the ground, and has been known to stand with its hind legs 
fairly off the ground, in its furious endeavours to break the rope. After a 
while, however, it finds its exertions to be totally useless, and yields to its 
conquerors. 
The second mode of capturing Elephants is more complicated. The 
inclosure into which the Elephants are driven is termed a “keddah,” and is 
ingeniously constructed of stout logs and posts, which are supported by strong 
buttresses, and are so arranged that a man can pass through the interstices 
between the logs. When the keddah is set in good order, a vast number of 
hunters form themselves into a huge circle, inclosing one or more herds of 
Elephants, and moving gradually towards the inclosure of the keddah, and 
arranging themselves in such a manner as to leave the entrance towards the 
keddah always open. When they have thus brought the herd to the proper 
spot, a business which will often consume several weeks, the Elephants are 
