Still more wonderful is the capture of a wild E., sometimes by not more than two hunters, who for this purpose will go into the woods, without aid or attendants, their only weapon a flexible rope of hide. With this they secure one of the E.'s hind-legs, following his footsteps when in motion, or stealing close up to him when at rest, or sometimes spreading the noose on the ground, partially concealed by roots and leaves, beneath a tree on which one of the party is stationed, whose business it is to lift it sud denly by means of a cord. When arrested by the rope being coiled around a tree, the E. naturally turns upon the man who is engaged in making it fast, but his companion interferes on his behalf, by provoking the animal; and thus not only is the first rope made fast, but noose after noose is passed over the legs, until all are at last tied to trees, and the capture is complete; upon which the hunters build a booth for themselves in front of their prisoner, kindle their fires for cooking, and remain day and night till the E. is sufficiently tamed to be led away.
But these huge animals are not always captured singly; whole herds are often taken at once. This is accomplished by means of an inclosure, towards which the elephants are driven by great numbers of men encircling a considerable space, and contracting the circle by slow degrees. Weeks, or even months, are spent in this operation, and at last the elephants, hemmed in on every side except the mouth of the inclosure, enter it, and the gate is immediately closed. The modes of constructing the inclosure are different in different parts of the east. Tame elephants are sometimes sent into it, and the captives are in succession made fast to trees there, in a way somewhat similar to that practiced in capturing single elephants.
The E. first became known in Europe from its employment in the wars of the east: " in India, from the remotest antiquity, it formed one of the most picturesque, if not of the most effective, features in the armies of the native princes." Elephants have been taught to cut and thrust with a kind of scimitar carried in the trunk, and it was formerly usual for them to be sent into battle, covered with armor, and bearing towers on their backs, which contained warriors. But the principal use of the E. in war is for carrying baggage, and for dragging guns. An E. will apply his forehead to a cannon, and urge it through a bog, through which it would be almost impossible for men and cattle to drag it;. or he will wind his trunk round it, and lift it up, whilst horses or cattle drag it forwards. Elephants are used in the east for carrying persons on their backs, a number being seated together in a howdah, whilst the driver (mahout) sits on the E.'s neck, directing it by his voice and by a small goad. Elephants have always a con spicuous place in the great processions and state displays of eastern princes, and white elephants—albinos—are peculiarly valued. Elephants are also employed in many kinds
of labor, and display great sagacity in comprehending the nature of their task and adapting themselves to it. In piling timber, the B. "manifests an intelligence and dex terity which is surprising to a stranger, because the sameness of the operation enables the animal to go on for hours disposing of log after log, almost without a hint or direc tion from his attendant." Of the sagacity of the E., many interesting anecdotes are on record, as every reader of books of travels and of natural history knows. But Cuvier refuses, and apparently with justice, to ascribe to it a degree of sagacity higher than that of the dog. In a state of domestication, the E. is a delicate animal, requiring much watchfulness and care, although naturally it has a very long life, and instances are on record of extreme Ion gevity in domestication, extending not only to more than one hundred, but almost to two hundred years.
The numbers of wild elephants, in some parts both of the East Indies and of Africa, are being gradually reduced as cultivation extends, and many are shot for no other rea son than a desire to reduce their numbers, and put an end to their ravages on cultivated grounds. A reward of,a few shillings per liead was claimed for 3,500 destroyed in part of the northern province alone of Ceylon, in less than three years prior to 1848. It is for the sake of ivory that the greatest slaughter of elephants takes place. A ball of hard metal, skillfully planted in the eye, base of the trunk, or behind the ear, generally ends an E.'s life in an instant; and expert sportsmen, have been known to kill right and left one with each barrel.
Fossil Elephants.—The E. makes its appearance in the pleistocene strata. Its near ally, the mastodon, whose remains are found associated with it, began life earlier; it has left its traces in miocene deposits. Ten species of fossil elephants have been described, the remains of three of which are found in Europe. The best known of these is the elephas primigenius, or mammoth, the tusks of which are so little altered as to supply an ivory which, though inferior to that of the living species, is still used in the arts, espe cially in Russia. Its tusks are, on this account, regularly searched for by "ivory hunters" in Siberia, where, in the superficial deposits of sand, gravel, and loam, the remains occur in enormous abundance. They are also found in similar strata all over Europe. In Britain, the localities that have supplied these remains are very numerous. They are especially abundant in the pleistocene deposits of the e. and s.c. of England. Woodward, in his Geology of Norfolk, calculates that upwards of 2,000 grinders of this animal had been dredged up by the fishermen off Happisburgh in thirteen years. The bone-caves also yield remains of this gigantic animal.