38 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAVS 
CHAP. 
the single stomach and exceedingly short intestines 
simplify the process of assimilation. The rapidity of 
the food passage necessitates a consumption of a 
large amount, and no less than six hundred pounds 
of fodder is the proper daily allowance for an 
elephant. 
There have been frequent discussions upon the 
important subject of elephant-feeding. Mr. G. P. 
Sanderson, the superintendent of the keddah 
department in Assam, has declared against the 
necessity of allowing a ration of grain in addition 
to the usual fodder. This must naturally depend 
upon the quality of the green food. If the locality 
abounds in plantains, the stems of those plants are 
eagerly devoured, and every portion except the 
outside rind is nourishing. Even then the waste is 
excessive should the stems be heedlessly thrown 
down before the animal. It will immediately proceed 
to strip long fibrous ribbons from the stem by placing 
one foot upon the extremity, and then tearing off the 
alternate layers like the skin of an onion. These 
it converts into playthings, throwing them over its 
back and neck until it is dressed in dangling neck¬ 
laces, which by degrees, after serving as toys, are 
ultimately devoured. The proper method of feeding 
an elephant with plantains where an allowance of 
rice is added, is by splitting the entire stem through 
the centre, and then cutting it into transverse sections 
about two feet in length. As each layer is detached, 
it resembles a delicately coloured trough, nearly 
white ; this is doubled up in the centre and it at once 
