164 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. Y. 



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. 



