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 



