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Show 1869.] DR. A. CAMPBELL ON THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 139 ing, are the only solitary ones to be met with. Large males with a herd are rarely ventured on by the catchers; they are bold and ferocious. The females and young males take instant alarm at the approach of the koonkis; and sometimes a whole herd becomes bewildered with fright on seeing them, and breaks up in all directions. This is the harvest of the catchers, and a bold and expert " phanait" will sometimes noose three wild ones out of one herd. So soon as he can get his "phau" off the neck of a prostrate one, he sets upon another, and similarly on a third. This prowess and luck are rare, but they happen occasionally. Mr. P. had a phanait who did this two seasons. He was a " Koch," and the quietest, most unpretending fellow in the world out of the keda. In the field he was a perfect Nimrod, full of energy and life, and for six or seven years he brought eight to twelve Elephants home annually of his own noosing. His pay was 10 rs. per mensem at home, 12 when in the field, and an annual present of a pair of silver bangles weighing 20 rupees, and a pair of gold earrings worth 20 rs. more. These "honorary distinctions" gained, he used to take a short leave to his home, when he bestowed them on his wife, and again took to the / forest in search of fresh laurels. " H o w many Elephants have you caught in your time?" I one day asked Mr. P. " I cannot tell you how many," he replied; " but I was seven years engaged in the business ; one year I caught 180, some years 1 got 100, some 80, some 60." W e may safely put down 1000 to his name, I think; and this gives a pretty good idea of the supply and demand in this business. Mr. P.'s "keda" was always a strong one, ranging from ten to twenty koonkis. Although I have set down eighteen months as the most generally adopted period of the Elephant's going with young, I must state that it is not universal in this part of the country. Rambullub Sah of Choora Bundur, on the Bootan frontier, who has been an Elephant- catcher for many years, says the period of gestation is twenty-two lunar months; and this is supported by a case of gestation which originated in his own stables, and in which the union of the sexes was known and recorded-a very rare case in the tame state; but this one is quite authentic, i. e. the conception, gestation, and birth. The record of the period of gestation I have not seen, but all the people of Choora Bundur are familiar with the facts, and many of them corroborate the twenty-two months' period. In 1849 I saw an infant Elephant that had been born in the October of 1848. He was with his mother. She had been caught in June 1847; and although then pregnant, there were no signs of unusual size until the January following. This case does not help to fix the limit of gestation ; but it proves that sixteen months is under that period. This female had immensely large breasts; and I tried to procure some of the milk to taste, but in vain. She lay down on her side at the command of the Mohout, but swung her trunk about and roared when we commenced pulling her teats. The young one applied himself to the breasts every five minutes, and for a minute or so onlv. The trunk appears quite in the way of a sucking Ele- |
