Chap. VIL] 



THE ELEPHANT. 



221 



he will stroll away lazily, to browse or enjoy tile 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, 



