of the former. The third is the fenem*, 
about the tenth of the first-mentioned. 
That which produces most profit to the 
treasury is the fenem. There is also a 
metal composed of gold and silver, which 
is but a sixth of the | fenem, and itis call- 
ed nak. This, too, is ey profitable. 
Lastly, there is another called jetéiat. 
From each province the quantity of gold 
imposed as a tribute is brought every 
he to the mint or treasury. The pay 
of offcers and soldiers is distr ibuted 
sie four months, and no one receives 
erders or assignments.on the provincial 
yevenues. The King’s treasury consists 
of several chambers, like reservoirs, fil- 
led with ingots-of gold. The niches of 
this kingdom are HennCeerey great. 
Persons of the lowest, as of the highest 
yank, even the meanest artisans, wear 
jew ols and golden ornaments at on ears, 
on the neck, arms, wrists, and lingers. 
The stables for the elephants are near 
the council-reom, and the King has many 
others in different parts of his empire 5 
but the largest elephants are. kept in the 
palace. Those which breed are iodged 
wn the first and second enclosure of the 
city, between the north and the west: 
there they bring forththeir young. The 
King has a white elephant of extraor di- 
mary size, which is brought before him 
every morning, as he considers the sight 
of this animal to be fortunate, and oimi- 
nous of good. The elephants are fed 
twice every day. W hen one of them 
dies, the others attack the keeper, and 
the king himself is very angry. Each 
has a separate stable, the walls of which 
ae uncommonly strong; they are fasten- 
ed by chaius round che middle of the 
body and the side, to the great beams in 
tne cicling, and their feet sO are tied. 
Elephants are taken in the toerests by 
means of a deep pit dug in the earth, and 
eovered in such a manner as not to be 
perceptible; this is in the way by which 
the e! iephant comes to drink at the river. 
When one failsinto the pit, no person ap- 
proaches him for two or three ANS at 
the expiration of this time, a single man 
appears, and gives the elephant Several 
lows with a stick: another man then 
comes, drives away the former, and seem-~ 
ing to, become the friend and defender of 
* See the Voyages de Sonnerat, tom. 1. 
p. 146, 2nd edi tion. 
+ Itis diffcult to ascertain the exact parti- 
culars of these matters, as they have, no doubt, ge 
been considerably hicied since the BMusul- 
man conquest of India. 
Abdulrizak’s Travels from Persia to Indig. 
pg 
«4 
[May tf, 
the animal, breaks the sticks before him 
and oifers him food; this process is re- 
peated by the two men until the elephant 
conceives a grateful attachment to the 
second, who gradually approaches, ca- 
resses ae and furnishes him with such 
food as will most gratify and please him; 
at last the man contrives to pass a chain 
over him, aad leads him to the river, 
where he suffers him to drink. 
They relate a story of an elephant 
taker in this manner, who had escaped 
aA returned to the forests : but when- ~ 
ever he went to drink, he carried in his 
trunk the branch of a tree, with which 
he sounded the path as he proceeded, 
to avoid falling into any pit that might 
have been dug | to ensnare hin ; so that it 
was fqund impossible to catch him in the 
usual way. The king, being very de-. 
sirous of having him. re-tahien, by any 
method, one of the most courageous and 
active of the huntsmen placed himself in 
a tree near which the elephant passed in 
going to the river, Atthe moment of his 
coming under the tree, the man leaped 
upon his back, and seized the chain with 
which he had been fastened, and which 
he had carried off when he escaped. The. 
elephant made various efiorts te preserve 
his liberty, he turned from one side to the 
other, he defended himself with his trunk, 
flung hinsell on the ground, but the de. 
tive huntsman skipp.d from side to side, 
without relinquishing the chain, and 
struck the elephant on the head several 
times with a stick, until he suffered him- 
self to be led before the king, who re= 
warded the man’s services as they de- 
served, 
The kings of India take much pleasure 
in the hunting of elephants, and pass 
whole months in that amusement among 
the woods and plains; they aresyvell sa- 
tisfied, and even consider it as great suc= 
cess, if they take a few. Criminals are 
thrown under the feet of elephants, who, 
having tossed them in the’air with their 
“trunks, finish their misery by trampling 
them to death, or tearing them in pieces 
with their teeth.* ‘Yhere are merchants 
who export elephants from the Island of 
Ceylon, and sell them in different coun- 
tries. 
We return to the description of Bis- 
nagor. The governor’s habitation is situ- 
ated near the mint. Under the com- 
mand of this magistrate are twelve. thou- 
sand men, who form the Cnty eae they 
Re See Thevenot (the nephew LéB 
vels, &c. ; 
iy 
receive 
