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