ELEPHANT. 
107 
drive them off have failed, he has been seen to col- 
lect dust with his trunk, and cover all the sensible 
parts of his skin with it. 
Wild elephants were caught and trained at an 
early period ; since we find Arrian, who flourished 
about the 140th year of Christ, giving us the fol- 
lowing account of the manner of taking elephants 
in India. The Indians enclose a large spot of 
ground, with a trench about twenty feet wide, and 
fifteen high, to which there is access but in one 
part, and this is a bridge, and is covered with turf; 
in order that these animals, who are very subtle, 
may not suspect what is intended. Of the earth 
that is dug out of the trench, a kind of wall is 
raised, on the other side of which a little kind of 
chamber is made, where people conceal themselves 
in order to watch these animals, and its entrance is 
very small. In this enclosure two or three tame 
female elephants are set. The instant the wild 
elephants see or smell them, they run and whirl 
about so much, that at last they enter the enclo- 
sure ; upon which the bridge is immediately broken 
down, and the people upon the watch fly to the 
neighbouring villages for help. After they have 
been broken for a few days by hunger and thirst, 
people enter the enclosure upon tame elephants, 
and with these they attack them. As the wild 
ones are by this time very much weakened, it is 
impossible for them to make a long resistance. 
After throwing them on the ground, men get upon 
their backs, having first made a deep wound round 
