From the entrance of the yard two fences enclosing a space shaped like a 'V' are extended several miles and the herd of wild elephants is driven so that it will come into the space enclosed by the 'V' Until they are within the jaws of the fences the driving is done very quietly so as not to alarm the animals and put them to flight, but when they are once inside of it, all silence comes to an end, and the hunters make as much noise as possible with guns, drums and other instruments. This frightens the elephants and they rush pell-mell into the keddah, where they are made prisoners.”
George asked if the elephants were killed when caught or were simply made prisoners.
“No elephants are wantonly killed nowadays in India and Ceylon,” said Mr. Webb, “with the exception of those that are actually dangerous on account of their vices. There are stringent laws against shooting an elephant, the animal being under government protection, and whenever a herd is driven into a keddah the officials select as many as are wanted for use and allow the rest to return to the forest. In the early part of this century the government gave a bounty in Ceylon for the slaughter of elephants and great numbers were killed by hunters. The mistake in the policy was not discovered until the animals became very scarce, when the laws were reversed. Instead of paying now to have elephants killed the government protects them by making it a serious offence to shoot one.”
“But the case is different in Africa,” said the gentleman. “The African elephant is not domesticated at present, or very rarely so, though he seems to have been in ancient times if we may judge by history. The famous Jumbo was an African elephant; you remember that his ears were about three times as large as those of an ordinary elephant, and this is the principal feature which distinguishes one kind from the other. The African is not as docile as the Asiatic elephant; he is hunted for his ivory and for his flesh, which is eagerly devoured by the natives. He is shot, speared, driven into pit-falls, and otherwise taken, and his numbers are said to be diminishing rapidly. By the end of the century, at the rate the destruction is going on, there will not be many African elephants remaining.”
George asked about, the mammoth which formerly lived in Siberia, and whose remains are occasionally found at the present time where they have lain for thousands of years imbedded in the frozen earth. Mr. Graham told him that the mammoth was a member of the elephant family, and his body was covered with thick fur or long hair to protect it from the cold. Of the few specimens that have been found the tusks were longer than those of the elephant and greatly curved; the skele were trimmed into the required shape for telegraph poles; a number of them being piled at intervals along the track.
“Then the elephants were sent to carry the poles to the distances they were to be set apart. I saw one mahout conduct his elephant to-a pile of these heavy poles and tell the intelligent animal to pick one up. He then, with a long wand he had for the purpose, measured off the distance and accompanied the elephant, who carried the pole to the place the mahout indicated. Then I saw the mahout tell the elephant to go to the pile and place them in line along the track, at the ton of one is in the museum at St. Petersburg, and portions of the hair and skin are preserved with it.