Chap. VII.] THE ELEPHANT. 
221 
he will stroll away lazily, to browse or enjoy the luxury 
of fanning himself and blowing dust over his back. 
The means of punishing so powerful an animal is a 
question of difficulty to his attendants. Force being 
almost inapplicable, they try to work on his passions 
and feelings, by such expedients as altering the na- 
ture of his food or withholding it altogether for a time. 
On such occasions the demeanour of the creature will 
sometimes evince a sense of humiliation as well as 
of discontent. In some parts of India it is customary, 
in dealing with offenders, to stop their allowance of 
sugar canes or of jaggery ; or to restrain them from 
eating their own share of fodder and leaves till their 
companions shall have finished ; and in such cases the 
consciousness of degradation betrayed by the looks and 
attitudes of the culprit is quite sufficient to identify 
him, and to excite a feeling of sympathy and pity. 
The elephant's obedience to his keeper is the result 
of affection, as well as of fear ; and although his attach- 
ment becomes so strong that an elephant in Ceylon 
has been known to remain out all night, without food, 
rather than abandon his mahout, lying intoxicated in 
the jungle, yet he manifests little difficulty in yielding 
the same submission to a new driver in the event of a 
change of attendants. This is opposed to the popular 
belief that "the elephant cherishes such an enduring 
remembrance of his old mahout, that he cannot easily 
be brought to obey a stranger." 1 In the extensive 
establishments of the Ceylon Government, the keepers 
are changed without hesitation, and the animals, when 
equally kindly treated, are usually found to be as tract- 
1 Menageries, #c, " The Elephant," vol. i, p. 19. 
