108 
ELEPHANT. 
their necks, about which they throw a rope, in 
order to put them to great pain in case they at- 
tempt to stir. Being tamed in this manner, they 
suffer themselves to be led quietly to the houses 
with the rest, where they are fed with grass and 
green corn, and tamed insensibly by blows and 
hunger, till such time as they obey readily their 
master’s voice, and perfectly understand his lan- 
guage. 
The authority of Arrian is not to be questioned, 
and the account which he has given us is not more 
valuable for its antiquity than the circumstantial 
manner in which it is related. 
After having noticed the earliest manner of catch- 
ing wild elephants, we shall proceed to relate the 
method at present used in India, from an interesting 
paper by John Corse, Esq. inserted in the Asiatic 
Researches. 
“ In the month of November, when the weather 
has become cool, and the swamps and marshes, 
formed by the rains in the five preceding months, 
are lessened, and some of them dried up, a num- 
ber of people are employed to go in quest of ele- 
phants. 
“ At this season the males come from the re- 
cesses of the forest into the borders and outskirts, 
whence they make nocturnal excursions into the 
plains in search of food, and where they often de- 
stroy the labours of the husbandman, by devouring 
and trampling down the rice, sugar-canes, &c. that 
they meet with. A herd or drove of elephants. 
