he greatest
docility. When they wander through the forest, however, or fly before
danger, the females go in front and set the pace, for they alone know
how fast their young ones can travel. Their senses of smell and hearing
are remarkably acute; they are of a good-tempered and peaceable
disposition, and do not care to expose themselves to unnecessary risks.
They are therefore not very dangerous to man, unless when attacked; but
man is their worst enemy.

In India wild elephants are caught to be tamed and employed in labour.
They are captured in various ways, but usually tame elephants are used
to decoy the wild ones. Expert elephant-catchers hide themselves as well
as they can on the backs of tame animals and drive them into a herd of
their wild relations. When a full-grown male has been separated from the
herd, he is beset on all sides by his pursuers and prevented from
sharing in the flight of his companions. They do him no injury, but only
try to tire him out. It may be two whole days before he is so exhausted
that, come what may, he must lie down to sleep. Then the men drop down
from the tame animals and wind ropes round his hind legs, and if there
is a tree at hand they tie him to it.

In Ceylon there are wonderfully smart and expert elephant-catchers who
hunt their game in couples without the help of tame decoys. They search
through the woods and thickets and follow a spoor when they come across
it, being able to judge from the footprints how long ago the trail was
tramped out, how many elephants there were, and whether they were going
fast or slowly. The smallest mark or indication on the way, which a
stranger would not notice, serves as a guide to them. When they have
found the troop they follow it silently as shadows; they creep and
crawl and sneak along the woodland paths as cautiously as leopards. They
never tread on a twig which might crack, they never brush against a leaf
which might rustle. The elephants, for all their fine scent and sharp
hearing, have no suspicion of their proximity. The men lie in wait in a
close thicket where the elephants can only move slowly, throw a noose of
ox hide before the animal's hind leg, and draw it tight at the right
moment. Then the elephant finds out his danger, and, trumpeting wildly,
advances to attack, but the men scurry like rats through the brushwood
and strengthen the snares time after time until the animal is fast.

In India whole herds are also captured at once,