s we saw it
going forward, is interesting. For the first three days, during which
he will seldom take food, he is allowed to stand quiet, with a tame one
by his side to give him confidence. When he takes to his food, he is
placed between two tame ones, and the head groom stands in front of him
with a long stick having a sharp iron point. Two men are also stationed
on either side, protected by the tame ones, with sticks with sharp
crooks, while others rub his back and talk to him in a consoling and
encouraging tone. At first he is excessively indignant, and strikes in
every direction with his proboscis; but his blows are received by the
men on the sharp points of their sticks and crooks, till the end is
thoroughly sore. Finding that he has the worst of it, and seemingly
acknowledging that his captors have established their supremacy, he
coils it tightly up, and seldom again attempts to use it as a weapon of
offence. The next process is to take him to bathe between two tame
elephants, and to compel him to lie down. This is done by tightening
the ropes which unite his feet, and by the driver pressing the sharp
point of the crook on his back-bone. Often for several days he resists
and roars most lustily, and the assistance of the tame ones is required
to keep him in order. In about three weeks, perhaps, he may be left
alone, and then when he is taken to bathe with his feet only hobbled, a
man walks backwards in front of him with the point of his pike presented
at his head, and two others, one at each ear, holding their pointed
crooks. On reaching the water, the dread of having the crook pressed
against his backbone makes him immediately lie down. After this the
process is easy. They vary much in disposition. Some will within even
a day or two feed out of a man's hand. The great secret is, while
proving to them the power of man, to treat them with kindness and to win
their confidence. From the treatment their feet receive when being
captured, they will not allow them to be touched for months and years
afterwards without exhibiting signs of anger. Though in other respects
tamed, they cannot be put to work for three or four months--indeed, till
they take their food eagerly, and flourish on it. Otherwise they
quickly die, as the natives say, of a broken heart. They are taught to
draw a waggon, or to tread clay for forming bricks; but by far the most
important service they render is in piling timber and removing