“After discovering the retreat of such as have tusks, unto these they drive some she elephants, which they bring with them for the purpose, which, when once the males have got a sight of they will never leave, but follow them wheresoever they go; and the females are so used to it, that they will do whatsoever, either by word or beck, their keepers bid them. And so they delude them along through towns and countries, and through the streets of the city, even to the very gates of the king’s palace, where sometimes they seize them by snares, and sometimes by driving them into a kind of pound, they catch them.”
Throughout the China-Indian peninsula the natives use female elephants in approaching males detached from the herd, or selected as desired captives on account of their beauty—the capture being effected by casting a noose over the foot of the victim. Probably, however, the Moormen of Ceylon are unexcelled in daring or adroitness in this vocation. So fearless are these professional catchers, or panickeas as they are termed, that two will, without aid or attendants, attempt the capture of the largest sized elephant. Their only weapon is a flexible rope of deer’s or buffalo’s hide. Stealing behind the animal when at rest, or stealthily following in his footsteps if in motion, they attach this rope to his hind legs. When at rest the elephant has a habit of swinging his hind feet, which aids the catchers in slipping the noose over the leg. Should the noosing be effected in open ground where there is no tree to which to secure the prize, one man allows himself to be pursued by the enraged elephant, and thus entices him to a more favorable locality, where the other man seizes the trailing rope and winds it around some convenient tree. The animal now turns upon his new assailant, but the first provokes him with gesticulations and taunting shouts of “dah! dah!” of which word the animal has a remarkable dislike. Meanwhile, the man’s comrade has secured the first noose, entangles one foot after the other until all are secured, and the capture complete.
Then a shelter of branches is put up for the men, and day and night they remain encamped before their prisoner. The elephant, in a few days at the farthest, becomes submissive, subdued by exhaustion and hunger, the terror of the fire which he dreads, and the smoke which he detests. Then an abundance of plantains and other dainties are given him, he is supplied with plenty of water, of which he is very fond, and gradually he becomes reconciled to his keepers, and finally they venture to start with their huge prisoner for their own village, generally many miles away, with forests and jungles intervening. Still too morose to permit his captors to ride him, and too powerful to be led or driven, this forced march taxes the ingenuity of the hunters to the utmost. Alternately vexing and eluding him, they keep his attention constantly attracted, and so induce him to move in the desired direction. The rope with which the capture was effected is of some assistance, besides being used to tie up the animal at night, and this is never removed from his leg until he is sufficiently tame to be entrusted with partial liberty.
GROUND PLAN OF A CORRAL.
METHOD OF FENCING A CORRAL.
Frequently a whole herd, numbering from thirty to one hundred individuals, is captured at once, but in this case a different plan from the foregoing is adopted. The custom in Bengal is to construct a strong enclosure (called a keddah) in the heart of the forest, formed of the trunks of trees firmly secured by transverse beams and buttresses, and leaving a gate for the entrance of the elephants. A second enclosure, opening from the first, contains water (if possible a rivulet;) this again communicates with a third, which terminates in a funnel-shaped passage, too narrow to admit of an elephant turning, and within this the captives being driven in line, are secured with ropes introduced from the outside, and led away in custody of tamed ones trained for the purpose. The keddah being prepared, the first operation is to drive the elephants toward it, for which purpose vast bodies of men fetch a compass in the forest around the haunts of the herds, contracting it by degrees till they complete the enclosure of a certain area, round which they kindle fires, and cut footpaths through the jungle, to enable the watchers to communicate and combine. All this is performed in cautious silence and by slow approaches, to avoid alarming the herd. A fresh circle nearer to the keddah is then formed in the same way, and into this the elephants are admitted from the first one, the hunters following from behind, and lighting new fires around the newly enclosed space. Day after day the process is repeated; till the drove having been brought sufficiently close to make the final rush, the whole party close in from all sides, and with drums, guns, shouts, and flambeaux, force the terrified animals to enter the fatal enclosure, when the passage is barred behind them, and retreat rendered impossible. Their efforts to escape are repressed by the crowd, who drive them back from the stockade with spears and flaming torches; and at last compel them to pass on into the second enclosure. Here they are detained for a short time, and their feverish exhaustion relieved by free access to water—until at last, being tempted by food, or otherwise induced to trust themselves in the narrow outlet, they are one after another made fast by ropes, passed in through the palisade, and picketed in the adjoining woods to enter on their course of systematic training. These arrangements vary in different districts of Bengal; and the method adopted in Ceylon differs in many essential particulars from them all; the keddah, or, as it is here called, the corral or korahl (from the Portuguese curral, a “cattle-pen,”) consists of but one enclosure instead of three. A stream or watering place is not uniformly enclosed within it, because, although water is indispensable after the long thirst and exhaustion of the captives, it has been found that a pond or rivulet within the corral itself adds to the difficulty of leading them out, and increases their reluctance to leave it; besides which, the smaller ones are often smothered by the others in their eagerness to crowd into the water. The funnel-shaped outlet is also dispensed with, as the animals are liable to bruise and injure themselves within the narrow stockade; and should one of them die in it, as is too often the case in the midst of the struggle, the difficulty of removing so great a carcass is extreme. The noosing and securing them, therefore, takes place in Ceylon within the area of the first enclosure into which they enter, and the dexterity and daring displayed in this portion of the work far surpasses that of merely attaching the rope through the openings of the paling, as in an Indian keddah, and affords a much more exciting sport.
In Ceylon, in former times, the work connected with these hunts was performed by forced labor extorted from the natives by their sovereigns as a part of the feudal service termed “rajakaríya,” and this labor was in succession demanded by the Portuguese, Dutch and English, as the island passed successively into their possession. Since the abolition of this compulsory duty, there has been no difficulty in securing all required assistance voluntarily. From fifteen hundred to two thousand men are required to construct the corral, drive in the elephants, maintain the cordon of watch-fires and watchers, and attend to other duties. Many weeks are occupied in putting up the stockades, cutting paths through the jungle, and surrounding and driving in the elephants.
