Such a thickness may appear too great; but it is to be considered that an elephant ought, by the contract, to carry either four common marquees, each weighing, when dry, 425lb., and, when wet, 597lb.; or six private tents, each weighing, when dry, 275lb., and, when wet, 426lb. Therefore, when I take the medium at twenty-five maunds, it is but striking a fair balance.
An ordinary elephant requires two servants; namely, a mohout, or driver, who sits upon his back, and guides, by means of a crooked instrument of iron, called a haunkus, aided by words of command, and the application of his toes behind the animal’s ears. The other servant, called a cooly, or grass-cutter, performs all the more menial offices, such as taking the elephant out for charrah, i.e. fodder, of which it can carry as much as will suffice for two, or, if well laden, for three days.
The feet of an elephant require considerable care; they being extremely apt to chafe, and wear away, at the soles, so as to render him completely unserviceable for a time. This generally happens where the soil is dry and harsh, as throughout the upper country, but may be, in a great measure, prevented by paying them with astringent applications, so that the skin may be rendered harder, and the foot, in general, somewhat callous.
When an elephant is chafed on the back, the part is usually rubbed with ghee and turmeric, and the pad cushioned so as to raise the spot under which the excoriation may be: if suffered to continue in a state of irritation, the smallest sore will speedily assume a most formidable appearance, owing to the peculiarly cellular formation of an elephant’s flesh.
The mode of catching elephants for the public service is very simple, requiring more perseverance than skill, yet attended with a heavy expence. In those wildernesses near Chittagong, Tipperah, &c., along the eastern boundary, some hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of villagers are assembled, who form a circle around those herds they may find, and gradually frighten them into a kind of trap, called a keddah, of which the entrance is of a crescent form, leading to a large area, properly enclosed by an immense trench, and by large piles well bound together. After a while, the animals are driven, or induced, into a smaller area, from which they are taken into a narrow passage, for the purpose of being secured, and led away to the stands, at which they remain until completely tamed.
It was formerly the practice to break their spirit by privations and severity; but, of late years, it has been found preferable to sooth as much as possible; a change which has been attended with the most happy results. So far has this plan succeeded, that many elephants are now better reconciled in one month than they formerly were in four or five; while, at the same time, many inconveniences, especially those severe ligatures, which invariably made desperate sores about the ankles, &c., are almost wholly avoided.
The practice of decoying the large single males, which separate from the herds, and are called sauns, or goondahs, is extremely curious: two or three females are generally sent out for the purpose of inveigling the ferocious males thus ranging about. Such female elephants, which are called k’hoomkies, are highly valuable, especially if they be large, and attached to their mohouts, whom they will protect to the last moment, if accidentally discovered by their intended prize while passing the ropes around his legs. For a particular account of this, which can scarcely be rendered distinct but by the aid of plates, I refer my readers to ‘The Wild Sports of the East,’ published from my designs and memoirs by Mr. Edward Orme, of Bond Street, and Messrs. Black, Parry, and Kingsbury, of Leadenhall Street.
Contrary to the opinion formerly current, it has been ascertained that elephants copulate in the same manner as other quadrupeds. This has been certified by Mr. John Corse, the resident Surgeon at Tipperah, who established a breed of elephants at that place; whereby much insight has been obtained regarding the natural history of this noble animal. When Mr. Corse transmitted that account which may be seen in the third volume of the Asiatic Researches, he had not the opportunity of ascertaining the period of gestation, which has since been found to give an average of about twenty-two months.
That less time could not be required, was evident from the incipient portion of that gentleman’s researches; as a female elephant, taken in January, 1788, did not produce her calf, which was thirty-five inches high at his birth, and grew four inches in as many months, until the 16th of October, 1789.
Elephants are invariably measured at the shoulder, and not on the arch of the back, the want of which is to be considered as indicative of age.