Chap. VII.] THE ELEPHANT. 
231 
nine-pence, and calculating that hardly any individual 
works more than four days out of seven, the charge for 
each day so employed would amount to six shillings and 
sixpence. The keep per day of a powerful dray-horse, 
working five days in the week, would not exceed half-a- 
crown, and two such would unquestionably do more 
work than any elephant under the present system. I 
do not know whether it be from a comparative calcula- 
tion of this kind that the strength of the elephant 
establishments in Ceylon has been gradually diminished 
of late years, but in the department of the Commis- 
sioner of Eoads, the stud, which formerly numbered 
upwards of sixty elephants, was reduced, some years 
ago, to thirty-six, and is at present less than half that 
number. 
The fallacy of the supposed reluctance of the elephant 
to breed in captivity has been demonstrated by man}'- 
recent authorities ; but with the exception of the birth 
of young elephants at Eome, as mentioned by ^Elian, 
the only instances that I am aware of their actually pro- 
ducing young under such circumstances, took place in 
Ceylon. Both parents had been for several years attached 
others well known to their attend- 
ants, are all consumed in turn. 
The stems of the plaintain, the 
stalks of the sugar-cane, and the 
feathery tops of the bamboos, are 
irresistible luxuries. Pine-apples, 
water-melons, and fruits of every 
description, are voraciously de- 
voured, and a coco-nut when found 
is first rolled under foot to detach 
it from the husk and fibre, and then 
raised in his trunk and crushed, 
almost without an effort, by his 
ponderous jaws. 
The grasses are not found in suf r 
ficient quantity to be an item of 
daily fodder; the Mauritius or 
the G-uinea grass is seized with 
avidity; lemon grass is rejected 
from its overpowering perfume, but 
rice in the straw, and every de- 
scription of grain, whether growing 
or dry; gram (Cicer arietinum), 
Indian Corn, and millet are his 
natural food. Of such of these as 
can be found, it is the duty of the 
leaf- cutters, when in the jungle and 
on march, to provide a daily supply, 
4 
