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

by Sir James Emerson Tennent

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CHAPTER I.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.

PAGE
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.
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 sceneby 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 withrogue elephants	[71]
CHAPTER III.
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.
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.
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.
Alleged superiority of the Indian to the African elephant—nottrue	[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.]

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PART I.
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS.

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THE
WILD ELEPHANT

CHAPTER I.
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.