164 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. V. 
exploit of capturing a whole herd : when from thirty to 
one hundred wild elephants are entrapped in one vast 
decoy. The mode of effecting this, as it is practised in 
Ceylon, is no doubt imitated, but with considerable 
modifications, from the methods prevalent in various 
parts of India. It was introduced by the Portuguese, 
and continued by the Dutch, the latter of whom had 
two elephant hunts in each year, and conducted their 
operations on so large a scale, that the annual export, 
after supplying the government establishments, was 
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty elephants, 
taken principally in the vicinity of Matura, in the 
southern province, and marched for shipment to 
Manaar. 1 
The custom in Bengal is to construct a strong en- 
closure (called a keddah), in the heart of the forest, 
formed of the trunks of trees firmly secured by trans- 
verse beams and buttresses, and leaving the gate for the 
entrance of the elephants. A second enclosure, open- 
ing from the first, contains water (if possible a rivulet) ; 
this, again, communicates with a third, which termin- 
ates in a funnel-shaped passage, too narrow to admit of 
an elephant turning, and within this the captives being 
driven in line, are secured with ropes introduced from 
the outside, and led away in custody of tame ones trained 
for the purpose. 
The keddah being prepared, the first operation is 
to drive the elephants towards it, for which purpose 
vast bodies of men fetch a compass in the forest around 
the haunts of the herds, contracting it by degrees, till 
they complete the enclosure of a certain area, round 
1 Valentyn, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, ch. xv. p. 272, 
