cleared of them, since
thousands have been imported from here into India within the last fifty
years. The Ceylon elephants prefer the low lying forests, but do not
confine themselves to them, ranging the hills to a height of six or
seven thousand feet, where the nights must be frosty and rather severe.
Their principal food is the leafage and young shoots of various trees,
the wild fig being a favorite. There are other trees of which they eat
the bark, and the young roots of the bamboo form a large source of their
food supply. Rice is, however, their favorite article of food, and they
often devastate whole plantations in a single night. It is fortunate
that the slightest fence will keep them away from any spot so protected:
a single blow of their trunks would destroy a bamboo fence, but they
never attempt it. Some idea, of which we can know nothing, possesses
them as it regards these frail fences. The male elephant in Ceylon gets
its full size at about twenty-two years, and is then about twelve feet
in height. We were told that they averaged about a hundred years of
life, but in India a much longer period is given them by general
calculation.

It has been found necessary to protect them by special law in Ceylon, as
European sportsmen came hither in such numbers after the large game,
that they threatened their extinction. There is now, therefore, a fine
of five hundred pounds imposed by government, as a penalty for killing
an elephant; but some rich English sportsmen kill their elephant and pay
the fine. It will be remembered that the Duke of Edinburgh visited the
island a few years since to participate in an elephant hunt, when great
preparations were made for him, and good success, from a sportsman's
point of view, was achieved. This style of hunting involves considerable
risk, and native beaters are liable to lose their lives in the business.
The animals found on the island seem to be quite a distinctive breed
from any other known race, and are noted for their intelligence, as well
as for their docility, after proper domestication. They are not so large
as those of Africa, but seem to be more highly prized in India. The
exportation, as we learned, still goes on in behalf of the English
government, sixteen hundred animals having thus been disposed of in the
five years ending in 1862, and about the same number in the intervening
time up to January, 1883, all of which went to India.

The principal object of interest at K