Chap. III.] 
THE ELEPHANT. 
131 
fine old tank of Tissa-weva, close by Anarajapoora, the 
natives cultivate grain, during the dry season, around 
the margin where the ground has been left bare by the 
subsidence of the water. These little patches of rice 
they enclose with small sticks an inch in diameter and 
five or six feet in height, such as would scarcely serve to 
keep out a wild hog if he attempted to force his way 
through. Passages of from ten to twenty feet wide are 
left between each field, to permit the wild elephants, 
which abound in the vicinity to make their nocturnal 
visits to the water still remaining in the tank. Night 
after night these open pathways are frequented by im- 
mense herds, but the tempting corn is never touched, 
nor is a single fence disturbed, although the merest 
movement of a trunk would be sufficient to demolish 
the fragile structure. Yet the same spots, the fences 
being left open as soon as the grain has been cut and 
carried home, are eagerly entered by the elephants to 
glean amongst the stubble. 
Sportsmen observe that an elephant, even when en- 
raged by a wound, will hesitate to charge an assailant 
across an intervening hedge, but will hurry along it to 
seek for an opening. It is possible that* on the part of 
the elephant, there may be some instinctive conscious- 
ness, that owing to his superior bulk, he is exposed to 
danger from sources that might be perfectly harmless in 
the case of lighter animals, and hence his suspicion that 
every fence may conceal a snare or pitfall. Some simi- 
lar apprehension is apparent in the deer, which shrinks 
from attempting a fence of wire, although it will clear 
without hesitation a solid, wall of greater height. 
At the same time, the caution with which the elephant 
is supposed to approach insecure ground and places of 
K 2 
