166 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. V. 



Portuguese curral, a " cattle-pen consists of but one 

 enclosure instead of three. A stream or watering-place 

 is not uniformly enclosed within it, because, although 

 water is indispensable after the long thirst and ex- 

 haustion of the captives, it has been found that a pond 

 or rivulet within the corral itself adds to the difficulty 

 ef leading them out, and increases their reluctance to 

 leave it ; besides which, the smaller ones are often smo- 

 thered by the others in their eagerness to crowd into 

 the water. The funnel-shaped outlet is also dis- 

 pensed with, as the animals are liable to bruise and 

 injure themselves within the narrow stockade; and 

 should one of them die in it, as is too often the case 

 in the midst of the struggle, the difficulty of removing 

 so great a carcase is extreme. The noosing and securing 

 them, therefore, takes place in Ceylon within the area 

 of the first enclosure into which they enter, and the 

 dexterity and daring displayed in this portion of the 

 work far surpasses that of merely attaching the rope 

 through the openings of the paling, as in an Indian 

 keddah. 



One result of this change in the system is manifested 

 in the increased proportion of healthy elephants which 

 are eventually secured and trained out of the number 

 originally enclosed. The reason of this is obvious : 

 under the old arrangements, months were consumed in 

 the preparatory steps of surrounding and driving in the 

 herds, which at last arrived so wasted by excitement 

 and exhausted by privation that numbers died within 

 the corral itself, and still more died during the process 

 of training. But in later years the labour of months is 

 reduced to weeks, and the elephants are driven in fresh 

 and full of vigour, so that comparatively few are lost 



