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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XV. 



of the tail, where a tuft remains, serving as a special sign 

 of beauty, by which the Indians and lovers of elephants set 

 great store. But how many inches an elephant grows a 

 year cannot be exactly stated, nor can any certain informa- 

 tion be derived regarding this matter. But I must here 

 state that I have seen that the beasts who have been in the 

 stalls for 3, 4, yea 8, 10, to 12 months, have grown 1, 2, 4, 7, 

 yea 10 and 11 inches, i.e., young and not fully developed 

 beasts ; but seeing that this growth is not the same in all 

 cases, nothing can be stated with certainty in respect thereof. 



When a she- elephant with calf dies before the latter is 

 able to eat leaves or other hard food, it is kept up and 

 nourished with cansje, 6 being watery cooked rice with some 

 jaggery balls or black sugar, by which sometimes the lives 

 of these little beasts are spared, and afterwards they are put 

 to other food, although in most cases (if they are quite too 

 young) they languish and die. 



Further, it seems strange to note the evident sorrow and 

 grief which cow-elephants manifest on the death of their 

 young, and it is often noticed and remarked that they (so to 

 speak) weep bitterly and shed tears, stroking the dead, body 

 with their trunks, without taking any food till they them- 

 selves die, or have quite forgotten their young. 



The elephants like all other animals are subject to various 

 diseases, maladies, and ills, for which all necessary remedies 

 for their recovery are resorted to by the doctors, as purga- 

 tives, syringing, bleeding, lancing of abscesses, appostu- 

 mation (cupping ?), and otherwise. And the ulceration 

 or wounds (which are sometimes caused by binding fast 

 ropes to the four feet and neck and otherwise) are cured 

 by large tufts made of cocoanut husk or rags soaked in 

 a sort of lotion or oil (according to the nature of the 

 accident), being bound various times a day. And wicks 

 of cloth are inserted into the wound ; and it cannot be 

 omitted to be stated here that most of these medicines 

 are generally made in various ways, of green and dried 

 drugs, roots, and shrubs, found in Ceylon in the jungles 



