194 



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



cobido is a lineal measure of 16 Dutch inches or 1^ Rhenish 

 feet, by which the elephants are measured to the first hump 

 on the neck right over the forefeet. But to prevent all 

 disputes and cause a proper measurement to be taken, a 

 long pole of from seven to eight cohidos is used. It is made 

 to stand perpendicularly on level ground by the side of the 

 elephant, and another is placed horizontally on the hump, 

 so that thereby the proper height is ascertained and the price 

 regulated accordingly without prejudice either to vendor 

 or vendee. 



Besides the aforesaid, there is much to be said about the 

 elephants, but as this Paper has already become longer than 

 I expected J shall pass by the rest, and conclude this account 

 with the hope that the reader will be satisfied with what I 

 have written. 



4. The Chairman read the following — 



NOTES. 

 By F. H. Modder. 



1 Cornelis Taay van Wezel was Commandeur of Galle (circa 1714-19). 

 He was married to Johanna van Rhee, who was born at Negapatam 

 on May 19, 1668, and died J uly 15, 1719, (See Lapidarium Zeylanicum, 

 plate 47 ; cf. also plates 9 and 10.) 



2 Tusks as Weapons of Offence.— See Journ. R.A.S., C.B., 1889, vol. 

 XL, p. 375, where Saar relates how Cornelis Salvegad, of Utrecht, 

 standard-bearer, was ordered by the King of Kandy to be slain 

 by the elephants for assaulting his captain. The Dutch edition, 1671, 

 Amsterdam, contains at p. 46 an illustration of this incident. 



Knox, in describing the execution of criminals by the state elephants 

 of the former Kings of Kandy, says " they will run their teeth (tusks) 

 through the body, and then tear it in pieces and throw it limb from 

 limb." He gives a pictorial illustration of this mode of execution. 

 But Tennent, on the authority of the Kandyan chiefs whom he 

 consulted on the subject, did not think that the tusks were designed 

 to be employed offensively. The trunk and feet were used as weapons 

 of offence. (The Wild Elephant, pp. 16, 17.) 



" 3 Wolfs, in his Reizen naar Ceylon, p. 118, relates some ; e.g., throwing 

 up a ball and catching it ; undoing a parcel tied up with a handker- 

 chief. 



4 The period of gestation is 629 days. 



5 Height. — Perhaps a corruption of the Portuguese cubito, a cubit. 

 Wolfs says that a newly-born elephant is not higher than an el. 



