The Wild Elephant and the Method of Capturing and Taming it in CeylonTennent, James Emerson, Sir
History
The Wild Elephant and the Method of Capturing and Taming it in Ceylon
Tennent, James Emerson, Sir
Elephants -- Sri Lanka
I do not know whether it was the surprising qualities exhibited by the
tame elephants that cast the courage and dexterity of the men into
the shade, but even when supported by the presence, the sagacity, and
co-operation of these wonderful creatures, the part sustained by the
noosers can bear no comparison with the address and daring displayed
by the _picador_ and _matador_ in a Spanish bull-fight. They certainly
possessed great quickness of eye in watching the slightest movement
of the elephant, and great expertness in flinging the noose over its
foot and attaching it firmly before the animal could tear it off
with its trunk; but in all this they had the cover of the decoys to
conceal them; and their shelter behind which to retreat. Apart from
the services which, from their prodigious strength, the tame elephants
alone are capable of rendering, in dragging out and securing the
captives, it is perfectly obvious that without their co-operation
the utmost prowess and dexterity of the hunters would not avail nor
embolden them, unsupported, to enter the corral and ensnare and lead
out a single captive.
Of the two tiny elephants which were entrapped, one was about ten
months old, the other somewhat more. The smaller one had a little bolt
head covered with woolly brown hair, and was the most amusing and
interesting miniature imaginable. Both kept constantly with the herd,
trotting after them in every charge; when the others stood at rest they
ran in and out between the legs of the older ones; and not their own
mothers alone, but every female in the group, caressed them in turn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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