When the herd has continued a few days in the Ked dah, the door of the outlet is opened, into which some one of the elephants is enticed to enter, by having food thrown first before, and then graduatly further on into the passage, till the elephant has advanced far enough to admit of the gates being shut. Above this wicker gate, two men are stationed on a small scaffold, who throw down the food. When the elephant has passed beyond the door, they give the signal to a man, who, from without, shuts it by pulling a string, and they se cure it by throwing two bars that stood perpendicular on each side, the one across the other thus x, and then two similar bars are thrown across each other, behind the door next to the Keddah, so that the 'door is in the cen tre. For farther security, horizontal bars are pushed across the outlet, through the openings of the palisades, both before and behind those crosses, to prevent the pos sibility of the doors being broken. The outlet is so nar row that a large elephant cannot turn in it ; but as soon as he hears the noise that is made in shutting the gate, he retreats backwards, and endeavours to force it ; being now secured in the manner already noticed, his efforts are unavailing. Finding his retreat thus cut off, he ad vances and exerts his utmost force to break down the bars, which were previously put across a little farther on in the outlet, by running against them, screaming and roaring and battering them like a ram by repeated blows of his bead, retreating and advancing with the utmost fury." After he has fatigued himself in this confine ment, strong ropes with running nooses are laid down, and as soon as he puts a foot within the noose it is im mediately drawn tight, and fastened to the palisades. When all his feet have been made fast, two men place themselves behind some bars that run across the pass age to prevent his kicking them, and with great caution tie his hind legs together, by passing a cord alternately from the one to the other like the figure 8, and then fastening these turns in the middle. A strong rope is now put twice round his body close to his lore legs like a girth, and tied behind nis shoulder, then the long end is carried back close to his rump, and there fastened, after a couple of turns more have been made round his body. Another cord is next lastened to the girth, and from thence carried under his tail like a crupper, and brought forward and fastened by a turn or two to each of the girths, by which the whole is connected, and each turn of these cords serves to keep the rest in their places. After this a strong rope is put round his buttocks, and made last on each side to the girth and crupper, so as to confine the motion of his thighs, and prevent his taking a lull step These smaller ropes being properly adjust ed, a couple of large cables with running nooses are put round his neck, and, after being drawn moderately tight, and the nooses secured from running closer, they are tied to the ropes on each side. This operation is represented in Plate CCL. Fig. 5. from an original drawing, communicated by NIL' Corse Scott. While these operations are going on, the other hunters stand before the gate of the passage, tickling his trunk, and diverting his attention with a pike or a bunch of cocoa nut leaves, plantain leaves, or sugar canes, so that the cords are, in general, made fast without difficulty or opposition. Sometimes, however, he seizes the ropes with his trunk, and endeavours to break them, particu larly those with which his feet are tied, or tries to bite them through with his grinders; but the hunters then goad him with sharpened bamboos, or light spears, so as to make him quit his hold. Those who are employ ed in putting the ropes round his body and over his head, stand above him on a small kind of platform, consisting of a few bars run across through the openings of the palisades, and as an elephant cannot see any thing that is above, and rather behind his head, they are very lit tle incommoded by him, although he appears to smell them, and endeavours to catch them with his trunk. When the whole of the apparatus is properly secured, the ends of the two cables, which were lastened round his neck, are brought forward to the outer end of the outlet, where two tame elephants trained to the business arc waiting, and to them these cables are made fast. When every thing is ready, the door at the end of the pt,ssage is opened, and the ropes that tied his legs to the palisades are loosened.
When an elephant is not very formidable or unruly, it is sufficient to place him lengthwise betwixt two large tr.:es about forty feet distant from each other, there to hind his hind legs in contact together, and fasten them close to one of the trees with five or six turns of thick rope; likewise to bind one foreleg, to which greater Irterty is given by the length and slackness of the The pair of tame elephants arc then disengaged from the wild one, and conducted back to the toil to take charge of another captive. This is a most trying moment to the wild elephant. While guided by the tuition, and soothed by the society of leis subjugated brethren, he stands tranquil and quiet. appearing. to for- get his sorrows, and to gather fortitude under 'his ferings ; but the instant that his companions march away, finding himself closely hound, a solitary and help e p less prisoner, he is agitated with all the horrors of de spair, breaks out into a roaring which makes all the fo rest tremble, and, in the fury of his extravagant grief, often falls a sacrifice to the exertions which he makes to regain his liberty. At this period, cocoa-nut leaves and plantain trees are brought to him for food. In the agony of distress, lie tosses them contemptuously away, or tramples them with indignation under his feet. The cravings of hunger, however, at length induce him to eat, which he does at first with evident reluctance, but becomes gradually more resigned, and feeds plentifully at the end of a few hours.
In this manner whole herds of elephants are taken captive ; but sometimes a small party of hunters endea vour to seize. the males, which often sally forth from the forests alone in search of richer provision. In this object the hunters are frequently successful, by observing the following plan, which is very perspicuously related by Mr C. Scott. the hunters know the places where the elephants come out to feed, they advance towards them in the evening with four trained elephants. When the nights are dark, these stragglers are discovered by the noise they make in cleaning their food, by whisking and striking it against their fore legs, and by moonlight they can see them distinctly at some distance.
As soon as they have determined upon the particular elephant they mean to secure, three of the trained fe males are conducted silently and slowly by their drivers, at a moderate distance from each other, near to the place' where he is feeding. These advance very cautiously, feeding as they go along, and appear like wild elephants that had strayed from the forest. When the male per ceives them approaching, if he takes the alarm, ant is viciously inclined, he beats the ground with his trunk, and makes a noise, sheaving evident marks of his dis pleasure, and that he will not allow them to approach near ; and if they persist, he will immediately attack and gore them with his tusks; for which reason they take care to retreat in good time. But should he be amo rously disposed, which is generally the case, he allows the females to approach, and sometimes even advances to meet them.
When from these appearances the hunters judge that he will become their prize, they conduct two of the fe males, one on each side, close to hint, and make them advance backwards, and press gently with their poste riors against his neck and shoulders. The third female then comes up, and places herself directly across his tail. In this situation, so far from suspecting any design against his liberty, he begins to toy with the females, and caress them with his trunk. When thus engaged, the fourth female is brought near with ropes and proper assistants, who immediately get under the belly of the third female, and put a slight cord round his hind legs. Should he move at this time it is easily broken, and if lie takes no notice of this slight confinement, nor ap pears suspicious of what is going forward, the hunters then proceed to tie his legs with a strong cord, which is passed alternately, by means of a forked stick and a kind of hook, from the one leg to the other, as we have be fore described. A strong cable, with a running noose sixty cubits long, is next put round each hind leg im mediately above the cords. These cables are secured in their places by other cords tied round the legs above them. The putting on these ropes generally takes up about twenty minutes, during which the utmost silence is observed ; and the hunters, who keep flat upon the necks of the females, are covered with dark coloured cloths, which serve to keep them warm, and at the same time do not attract the notice of the elephant. While the people are thus busily employed in tying his legs, he caresses sometimes one and sometimes another of the seducers, examining their beauties, and' toying with different parts, by which his desires are excited, and his attention diverted from the hunters, and in these amorous dalliances he is indulged by the females. He is now generally so firmly secured by the pressure of the tamed elephants on each side, and by the one behind, that he can hardly turn himself, or see any of the people, who always keep snug under the belly of the third female that stands behind, and serves both to keep him steady and to prevent his kicking any of the people who are employed in securing him ; but in general he is so much taken up with his dccoyers, as to attend very little to any thing else. In case of accidents, however, should he break loose, the people upon the first alarm can always mount on the back of the tamed elephants, by means of a rope that hangs ready for the purpose, and thus get out of his reach. When his hind legs are properly se cured, they leave him to himself, and retire to a small distance ; but as soon as the females go away he attempts to follow them, but finding his legs tied, he is roused to a proper sense of his situation, and retreats towards the forest. The hunters now follow at a moderate distance on the females, accompanied by a number of people that had been previously sent for, and who, as soon as the wild elephant passes near a stout tree, make a few turns of the long cables that are trailing behind him around its trunk. His progress being thus stout, he be comes furious, and exerts his utmost force to disengage himself; nor will he then allow any of the females to come near him, but is outrageous for some time, falling clown, and goring the earth with his tusks. If by these exertions the cables are once broken, which sometimes is effected, and he escapes into the forest, the hunters dare not advance for fear of the other wild elephants, and are therefore obliged to leave him to his fate ; and, in this hampered situation, it is said he is even ungenerously attacked by the other wild elephants. As the cables are very strong, and seldom give way, such accidents rarely occur. When he has exhausted himself by his exertions, the trained elephants are again brought near, and take their former positions. After getting him nearer the tree, the people carry the ends of the long cables round his legs, then back and about the trunk of the tree, making if they can two or three turns, so as to prevent even the possibility of his escape. For still farther se curity, as well as to confine him from moving to either side, his fore legs are tied exactly in the same manner as the hind legs were. He is now harnessed with all the expedition possible in the same manner as those al ready described, and conducted to his proper station.