The Wild Elephant and the Method of Capturing and Taming It in Ceylon

CHAPTER I.. Structure and Functions.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.

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Vast numbers in Ceylon 4

Derivation of the word “elephant,” note ib.

Antiquity of the trade in elephants 5

Numbers now diminishing. ib.

Mischief done by them to crops ib.

Ivory scarce in Ceylon 6

Conjectures as to the absence of tusks 7

Elephant a harmless animal 9

Alleged antipathies to other animals 11

Fights with each other 15

The foot its chief weapon 16

Use of the tusks in a wild state doubtful 17

Anecdote of sagacity in an elephant at Kandy 19

Difference between African and Indian species 20

Native ideas of perfection in an elephant 21

Blotches on the skin 22

White elephants not unknown in Ceylon 23

CHAPTER II.. Habits When Wild.

HABITS WHEN WILD.

Water, but not heat, essential to elephants 25

Sight limited 26

Caution 26

Smell acute 27

Hearing good ib.

Cries of the elephant 27

Trumpeting 28

Booming noise 29

Height, exaggerated 30

Facility of stealthy motion 31

Ancient delusion as to the joints of the leg 32

Its exposure by Sir Thos. Browne ib.

Its perpetuation by poets and others 35

Position of the elephant in sleep 38

An elephant killed on its feet 39

Mode of lying down 40

Its gait a shuffle ib.

Power of climbing mountains 41

Facilitated by the joint of the knee 43

Mode of descending declivities, note ib.

A “herd” is a family 45

Attachment to their young 46

Suckled indifferently by the females ib.

A “rogue” elephant 47

Their cunning and vice 48

Injuries done by them 49

The leader of a herd a tusker 50

Bathing and nocturnal gambols, description of a scene by Major Skinner 51

Method of swimming 55

Internal anatomy imperfectly known 56

Faculty of storing water 58

Peculiarity of the stomach 59

The food of the elephant 63

Sagacity in search of it 64

Unexplained dread of fences 65

Its spirit of inquisitiveness 67

Anecdotes illustrative of its curiosity ib.

Estimate of sagacity 68

Singular conduct of a herd during thunder ib.

An elephant feigning death 70

Appendix.—Narratives of natives, as to encounters with rogue elephants 71

CHAPTER III.. Elephant Shooting.

ELEPHANT SHOOTING.

Vast numbers shot in Ceylon 77

Revolting details of elephant killing in Africa, note 78

Fatal spots at which to aim 79

Structure of the bones of the head ib.

Wounds which are certain to kill 80

Attitudes when surprised 83

Peculiar movements when reposing 84

Habits when attacked 85

Sagacity of native trackers 86

Courage and agility of the elephants in escape 87

Worthlessness of the carcass 89

Note.—Singular recovery from a wound 90

PART II.. _mode of Capture and Training._

MODE OF CAPTURE AND TRAINING.

CHAPTER I.

AN ELEPHANT CORRAL.

Early method of catching elephants 96

Capture in pit-falls, note ib.

By means of decoys 97

Panickeas—their courage and address ib.

Their sagacity in following the elephant ib.

Mode of capture by the noose 99

Mode of taming 100

Method of leading the elephants to the coast 101

Process of embarking them at Manaar 102

Method of capturing a whole herd 103

The “keddah” in Bengal described 104

Process of enclosing a herd ib.

Process of capture in Ceylon 105

An elephant corral and its construction 105

An elephant hunt in Ceylon, 1847 106

The town and district of Kornegalle ib.

The rock of Aetagalla 107

Forced labour of the corral in former times 110

Now given voluntarily 111

Form of the enclosure 112

Method of securing a wild herd 114

Scene when driving them into the corral 116

A failure ib.

An elephant drove by night 118

Singular scene in the corral 119

Excitement of the tame elephants, note ib.

CHAPTER II.. The Captive.

THE CAPTIVE.

A night scene 121

Morning in the corral ib.

Preparations for securing the captives 122

The “cooroowe,” or noosers ib.

The tame decoys 123

First captive tied up 124

Singular conduct of the wild elephants 126

Furious attempts of the herd to escape 127

Courageous conduct of the natives 128

Variety of disposition exhibited by the herd 131

Extraordinary contortions of the captives ib.

Water withdrawn from the stomach 133

Instinct of the decoys ib.

Conduct of the noosers 136

The young ones and their actions 137

Noosing a “rogue,” and his death 138

Instinct of flies in search of carrion, note 139

Strange scene 140

A second herd captured 142

Their treatment of a solitary elephant 143

A magnificent female elephant 144

Her extraordinary attitudes ib.

Wonderful contortions 145

Taking the captives out of the corral 147

Their subsequent treatment and training 148

Grandeur of the scene ib.

Story of young pet elephant 149

CHAPTER III.. Training and Conduct in Captivity.

TRAINING AND CONDUCT IN CAPTIVITY.

Alleged superiority of the Indian to the African elephant—not true 150

Ditto of Ceylon elephant to Indian 152

Process of training in Ceylon 155

Allowed to bathe 156

Difference of disposition 158

Sudden death of “broken heart” 160

First employment treading clay 161

Drawing a waggon ib.

Dragging timber ib.

Sagacity in labour ib.

Mode of raising stones 162

Strength in throwing down trees exaggerated ib.

Piling timber 163

Not uniform in habits of work 164

Lazy if not watched 165

Obedience to keeper from affection, not fear ib.

Change of keeper—story of child 166

Ear for sounds and music 167

Ur-re! note ib.

Endurance of pain 168

Docility 169

Working elephants, delicate 170

Deaths in Government stud 171

Diseases 172

Subject to tooth-ache ib.

Question of the value of labour of an elephant 174

Food in captivity, and cost 175

Breed in captivity 176

Age 177

Theory of M. Fleurens ib.

No dead elephants found 179

Sindbad’s story 181

Appendix.—Passage from Ælian 183

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

View of an Elephant Corral Frontispiece

Brain of the Elephant 26

The Trunk as figured in the fifteenth century 28

Bones of the Fore-leg 41

Elephant descending a Hill 44

Elephant’s Well 55

Elephant’s Stomach, showing the Water-cells 59

Elephant’s Trachea 60

Water-cells in the Stomach of the Camel 62

Section of the Elephant’s Skull 80

Ground Plan and Fence of a Corral 112

Noosing Wild Elephants to face 124

Mode of tying an Elephant 126

His Struggles for Freedom 127

Impotent Fury 130

Singular Contortions of an Elephant 132

Attitudes of Captives to face 134

Obstinate Resistance 135

Attitude for Defence 147

Figures of the African and Indian Elephants on Greek and Roman Coins 151

Medal of Numidia 156

Modern Hendoo ib.

PART I.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.

THE WILD ELEPHANT

CHAPTER I.. Structure and Functions.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.

During my residence in Ceylon, I had on two occasions opportunities of witnessing the operation on a grand scale, of capturing wild elephants, intended to be trained for the Government service in the establishment of the Civil Engineer and Commissioner of Roads;—and in the course of my frequent journeys through the interior of the island, I succeeded in collecting so many facts relative to the habits of these animals so interesting in a state of nature, as enable me not only to add to the information previously possessed, but to correct some of the fallacies popularly entertained regarding their disposition and instincts. These particulars I am anxious to place on record before proceeding to describe the scenes I allude to, during the progress of the elephant hunts in the district of the Seven Korles, at which I was present in 1846, and again in 1847.

With the exception of the narrow but densely inhabited belt of cultivated land, that extends along the seaborde from Chilaw on the western coast towards Tangalle on the south-east, there is no part of Ceylon in which elephants may not be said to abound; even close to the environs of the most populous localities of the interior. They frequent both the open plains and the deep forests; and their footsteps are to be seen wherever food and shade, vegetation and water, allure them, alike on the summits of the loftiest mountains, and on the borders of the tanks and lowland streams.

From time immemorial the Singhalese have been taught to capture and tame them, and the export of elephants from Ceylon to India has been going on without interruption from the period of the first Punic War. In later times in all forests elephants were the property of the Kandyan crown; and their capture or slaughter without the royal permission was classed amongst grave offences in the criminal code.

In recent years there is reason to believe that their numbers have become considerably reduced. They have entirely disappeared from localities in which they were formerly numerous; smaller herds have been taken in the periodical captures for the public service, and hunters returning from the chase report them to be growing year by year more and more scarce. In consequence of this diminution the natives in some parts of the island have even suspended the ancient practice of keeping watchers and fires by night to scare away elephants from their growing crops. The opening of roads too in the hill districts, and the clearing of the mountain forests of Kandy for the cultivation of coffee, have forced the animals to retire to the low country, where again they have been followed by large parties of European sportsmen; and the Singhalese themselves, being more freely provided with arms than in former times, have assisted in swelling the annual slaughter.

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