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 many 

 recent authorities ; but with the exception of the birth 

 of young elephants at Eome, as mentioned by JElian, 

 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 sterns 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- 

 ficient quantity to be an item of 

 daily fodder; the Mauritius or 

 the Guinea 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. 



