8 
A TREATISE ON ELEPHANTS. 
Timber elephants may again ■ be divided into two classes, 
namely, — 
(i) trained tuskers, / 
(ii) trained males and females. 
Well-trained tuskers have at all times commanded a good price ; 
they are much more useful both in the yards and forests, as with 
their tusks they can ''oung^' (g3Dd6s) [see Plate VIII), i.e., butt 
and stack timber, carry butts and planks, assist in getting logs over 
obstacles, or in clearing blocks in creeks. Prices vary according to 
age, good points, temper, training, and length, thickness and sweep 
of the ivory. Merchants have been ever ready to pay what a few 
years ago were considered fancy prices for well-trained elephants, but 
of late the demand has been so great that prices hitherto considered 
exceptional have now become, for the time being at least, ordinary 
rates. 
A full-grown w^ell-trained tusker will command as much as 
Rs. 7,000, and a well-trained female as much as Rs. 5,000. Elephants 
that are trained to baggage work or slightly to timber may cost 
Rs. 4,000. How long this abnormal state of the market will exist 
it is difficult to predict. Though tuskers are largely employed in 
dragging operations, still most of such work is generally performed 
by tuskless males and females. Most Burmese elephants are 
trained to timber work, and to some extent to carrying baggage. 
As before noted, purchasers of late have had to go far afield to 
obtain what they want. Competition among firms in the timber 
industry has been keener of late, added to which several new firms 
have entered the field. Again, the business of catching and training 
wild elephants, by the lesser lights, has been prohibited for some 
time in Burma, and this no doubt has helped to diminish the 
supply of trained elephants. These causes operating together 
have all tended to raise the price, and I have no doubt the price will 
remain high so long as they are in operation. In the interests of 
the timber industry in which Government is directly concerned, it 
w^ould appear highly desirable to do something towards trying to 
reduce these abnormal prices. 
PURCHASE. 
Dealers in elephants, it is to be regretted, are not always above 
suspicion ; and as elephants are subject to numerous ailments, which 
are causes of unsoundness, and also sometimes obscure vices, too 
much care cannot be exercised in the examination of animals about 
to be purchased. It will therefore be advisable to enumerate some 
