76 
CHAP. II. 
THE ELEPHANT. 
Structure and Functions. 
During my residence at Kandy, I had twice the oppor- 
tunity of witnessing the operation on a grand scale, of 
capturing wild elephants, intended to be trained for the 
public service in the establishment of the Civil Engineer ; 
— and in the course of my frequent journeys through 
the interior of the island, I succeeded in collecting so 
many facts relative to the habits of these interesting 
animals in a state of nature, as enable me not only 
to add to the information previously possessed, but 
to correct many fallacies popularly received regarding 
their instincts and disposition. These particulars I am 
anxious to place on record before proceeding to describe 
the scenes of which I was a spectator, during the pro- 
gress of the elephant hunts in the district of the Seven 
Korles, at which I was present in 1846, and again in 
1847. 
With the exception of the narrow but densely inha- 
bited belt of cultivated land, that extends along the 
seaborde of the island from Chilaw on the western coast 
to Tangalle on the south-east, there is no part of Ceylon 
