NO. 49. — 1898.] THE CEYLON ELEPHANT. 



195 



Mr. Rowland Ward, in his Horn Measurements and Weights of the 

 Great Game of the World, 1892, p. 248, gives the following interesting 

 particulars of elephant feet : — 



Pi- * 

 L/ircumterence. 



Width at bottom, 

 back to front. 



xi a Drear. 



Owner. 





18 



Ceylon 



.. H. Storey 





17 



do. 



.. H. E. Lindsay 



52i 



17 



do. 



.. Rowland Ward's 

 collection 



51£ 





do. 



Capt. C. Hill 



50 



... 17 



do. 



.. H. E. Lindsay 

 .. Capt. C. Hill" 



49 





do. 



44 



15 .11 



do. 



.. J. B. Gardyne 



43i 



iH ... 



do. 





It has been ascertained that the girth of the forefoot when the 

 pressure of the animal's weight is exerted is exactly half the 

 perpendicular height of the elephant (see Baker's Wild Beasts and 

 theirl Ways, p. 19). According to this calculation the above instances 

 given by| Ward would be a low average for Ceylon. Tennent gives a 

 better average. I know of one animal, a well-known decoy of Kurune- 

 gala, who T stood 1 1 ft. The weight of a baby elephant, when born, 

 is about 213 lbs. 



6 Kanje, rice broth ; Sinhalese henda. In Alewyn and ColWs 

 Portuguese-Dutch Dictionary (1714) the word is given as Canja, 

 and defined as an u Indische styfsel of pap van ryst gemaakt" Indian 

 starch or porridge made of rice. 



7 Age. — Wolfs, p. 108, knows of one that was in captivity fifty-one 

 years, Fleurens, in De la Longevite Bumaine, pp. 82-89, conjectures 

 that the normal age of the elephant is 150 years. Tennent instances a 

 case of a decoy attached to the elephant establishment at Matara, 

 which the records found among the papers left by Col. Robertson (son 

 to the historian of Charles Y.), who had a command in Ceylon in 1799, 

 proved to have served under the Dutch during the entire period of their 

 occupation, extending to upwards of 140 years ; and it was said to 

 have been found in the stables by the Dutch on the expulsion of the 

 Portuguese in 1656 



Baker says that it is impossible to define exactly the limit of old age, 

 as there can be little doubt that captivity shortens the duration of life 

 to a great degree. As an elephant cannot be fully developed in the 

 perfection of ivory until the age of forty, Baker accepts that age in a 

 wild animal as a starting point in life, and says that the term of 

 existence would be about 150 years. (Wild Beasts and their Ways, 

 p. 20.) 



Caste. — Hastisilpa, a Sinhalese work which treats of the " Science of 

 Elephants," describes with particularity their distinctive excellences 

 and defects and the castes to which they belong. For " points of perfec- 

 tion " of an elephant see Baker's Wild Beasts and their Ways, p. 45. 



