i8 
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS. 
like wet-la-myet (oo5ood[^o5) may also be given, when it is difficult 
to procure kaing ; most of them however are far less appreciated 
by elephants. 
In addition to the supply of good food being plentiful, it 
must also be varied ; but here again the conditions of food-supply in 
Rangoon, as I have observed, do not agree with my ideas on the 
subject. In Rangoon, fodder is usually brought in boats, and con- 
sists invariably of wet-la (oo6odd) and myet-thin-dong (go5o36ocj58). 
With reference to the former [P aperies pangoree, Cyprus tegetum)^ 
it is one of the least nutritious kinds of fodder that could be supplied, 
as it is full of watery sap, is a poor substitute for kaing, and 
probably accounts for a good deal of the indifferent health and 
reduced capacity for work exhibited by many of the yard elephants 
(which, in my opinion, are through ignorance half-starved). For a 
creature to derive sufficient sustenance from it, a very large bulk 
must be ingested, which unduly taxes its digestive capabilities ; added 
to this, being cut in stagnant marsh lands, it may have adhering to it 
the ova of many varieties of noxious intestinal parasities, as well as 
germs of disease, and is often provocative of diarrhoea. Thus, for 
want of proper supervision it usually happens that a considerable 
quantity of dead stalks and other unwholesome material is mixed with 
it. I have observed that usually the custom is to allow so many 
bundles for each animal, but I have never seen yet a European 
supervising the weighing of the fodder to ensure that each animal 
receives an adequate allowance, which I have often found was not 
the case. How often is any other kind of fodder supplied ? I fully 
realize why this food is presented year in and year out : it is 
undoubtedly the easiest procurable near Rangoon, but with a little 
more trouble and very little extra expense, if employers would 
insist upon it, far superior fodder could be and should be substituted 
or mixed with this wet-la. In out-stations the animals are sent out 
to graze or taken out into the jungle, and when fodder is collected 
they carry it into camp. Those in charge must not be led away by 
the sight of the mahouts bringing in large loads of fodder on their 
elephants' backs ; nothing short of personal inspection and weighing 
is satisfactory ; contractors are in most instances quite as bad as 
mahouts ; every bundle must be opened out and examined and all 
dirty worthless stuff rejected, such as slimy grass, insect-eaten 
leaves, and branches and leaves that have been soiled by birds. I 
know from experience that mahouts are frequently too lazy to obtain 
good grass, even when it can be procured a mile distant from camp ; 
this is notably the case when on the march ; they thmk as long 
as they can deceive the person in charge by bringing in a load of 
worthless stuff (which plan often answers their lazy inclinations 
