ELEPHANT. 
116 
a few days. In general, however, they soon be- 
come reconciled to their fate, will eat immediately 
after they are taken, and, if necessary, may be con- 
ducted from the verge of the jungle as soon as a 
passage is cleared. When the elephant is brought 
to his proper station and made fast, he is treated 
with a mixture of severity and gentleness, and in a 
few months (if docile) he becomes tractable, and 
appears perfectly satisfied with his lot. It appears 
somewhat extraordinary, that though the goondah 
uses his utmost force to disengage himself when 
taken, and would kill any person coming within 
his reach, yet he never, or at least seldom, attempts 
to hurt the females that have ensnared him, but on 
the contrary seems pleased, (as often as they are 
brought near, in order to adjust his harnessing, or 
move and slacken those ropes which gall him,) 
soothed, and comforted, as it were, for the loss of 
his liberty. All the elephants, soon after they are 
taken, are led out occasionally for exercise by the 
hoomhees , which attend for that purpose. 
“ Having now related, partly from my own 
knowledge, and partly from comparing the accounts 
given by different people employed in this business, 
the manner in which the male elephants, called 
goondahs , are secured, I shall next, entirely from 
my own knowledge, describe the methods I have 
seen employed for securing a herd of wild ele- 
phants. Female elephants are never taken singly, 
but always in the herd, which consists of young 
and old of both sexes. This noble, docile, and use- 
