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 CHAPTER I. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS. During my residence in Ceylon, I had on two occasions opportunities of witnessing the operation on a grand scale, of capturing wild elephants, intended to be trained for the Government service in the establishment of the Civil Engineer and Commissioner of Roads;—and in the course of my frequent journeys through the interior of the island, I succeeded in collecting so many facts relative to the habits of these animals so interesting in a state of nature, as enable me not only to add to the information previously possessed, but to correct some of the fallacies popularly entertained regarding their disposition and instincts. These particulars I am anxious to place on record before proceeding to describe the scenes I allude to, during the progress of the elephant hunts in the district of the Seven Korles, at which I was present in 1846, and again in 1847. With the exception of the narrow but densely inhabited belt of cultivated land, that extends along the seaborde from Chilaw on the western coast towards Tangalle on the south-east, there is no part of Ceylon in which elephants may not be said to abound; even close to the environs of the most populous localities of the interior. They frequent both the open plains and the deep forests; and their footsteps are to be seen wherever food and shade, vegetation and water,[7] allure them, alike on the summits of the loftiest mountains, and on the borders of the tanks and lowland streams. From time immemorial the Singhalese have been taught to capture and tame them, and the export of elephants from Ceylon to India has been going on without interruption from the period of the first Punic War.[8] In later times in all forests elephants were the property of the Kandyan crown; and their capture or slaughter without the royal permission was classed amongst grave offences in the criminal code.