te pleasure in acting as a decoy to enable the hunters to
capture wild ones. After the pursuers have, with the tame elephant's
help, driven the wild animal into a corral or stout inclosure in the
forest, and have also, still aided by the tame elephant, secured the
wild one by tying his two hind feet securely to some stout tree, he is
left for a day or two to strain and fret himself until he has fairly
worn out his strength, before he is again approached. Almost the
entire process of breaking in or training a wild elephant is that of
starvation. When at last his spirit is completely broken and his
strength gone for the time being, he becomes amenable to discipline,
almost as much so as one which has been in captivity for years. He
then partakes with eagerness of the food and water which is brought to
him, accepting the same as a sort of peace offering, and gradually
becomes attached to the keeper who has charge of him, and with whose
presence the creature associates the idea of relief and comfort. From
this time forward, firmness and kindness complete the taming process.
It is a mystery how and where they die in their wild state. No
corpses are ever found, except of those which have come to a violent
death by the bullets of the hunters. It is seldom that the animal is
now shot. This is only done in extreme cases, as a live elephant is so
much more valuable than a dead one that the object is now to corral
them, tie them up, and tame them.

The mountains encircling Piduru Talagalla are covered with trees to
their very summits, from a distance seeming to be wrapped in a rich
mantle of deepest green. This elevation is the loftiest on the island,
considerably exceeding Adam's Peak, the legendary apex of Ceylon, a
conclusion arising from the fact that the latter is to be seen from
the ocean before any other portion of the island, and long before the
lighthouse of Colombo is made out from on ship-board. The dense forest
in this region contains many wild animals besides elephants.

A high degree of religious importance attaches to the act of ascending
Adam's Peak, which is situated fifteen miles south of Neura-Ellia.
Consequently, at certain seasons of the year, the mountain side is
covered with pilgrims, who camp there during the night, and perform
their religious devotions on the summit during the day. A special
effort is made by the pilgrims to reach the top so as to see the sun
rise, and to meet its first rays upon bended k