# Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian/Frag. XXXVI.

Fragm. XXXVI.
Strab. XV. 1. 41-43,—pp. 704-705.
Of Elephants.
Conf. Epit. 54-56.
(Fragm. XXXIII. 6 has preceded this.)
A private person is not allowed to keep either a horse or an elephant. These animals are held to be the special property of the king, and persons are appointed to take care of them. $^2$The manner of hunting the elephant is this. Round a bare patch of ground is dug a deep trench about five or six stadia in extent, and over this is thrown a very narrow bridge which gives access to the enclosure. $^3$Into this enclosure are introduced three or four of the best-trained female elephants. The men themselves lie in ambush in concealed huts. $^4$The wild ​elephants do not approach this trap in the daytime, but they enter it at night, going in one by one. $^5$When all have passed the entrance, the men secretly close it up; then, introducing the strongest of the tame fighting elephants, they fight it out with the wild ones, whom at the same time they enfeeble with hunger. $^6$When the latter are now overcome with fatigue, the boldest of the drivers dismount unobserved, and esich man creeps under his own elephant, and from this position creeps under the belly of the wild elephant and ties his feet together. $^7$When this is done they incite the tame ones to beat those whose feet are tied till they fall to the ground. They then bind the wild ones and the tame ones together neck to neck with thongs of raw ox-hide. $^8$To prevent them shaking themselves in order to throw off those who attempt to mount them, they make cuts all round their neck and then put thongs of leather into the incisions, so that the pain obliges them to submit to their fetters and to remain quiet. From the number caught they reject such as are too old or too young to be serviceable, and the rest they lead away to the stables. Here they tie their feet one to another, and fasten their necks to a firmly fixed pillar, and tame them by hunger. $^{10}$After this they restore their strength with green reeds and grass. They next teach them to be obedient, which they effect by soothing them, some by ​coaxing words, and others by songs and the music of the drum. $^{11}$Few of them are found difficult to tame, for they are naturally so mild and gentle in their disposition that they approximate to rational creatures. Some of them take up their drivers when fallen in battle, and carry them off in safety from the field. Others, when their masters have sought refuge between their forelegs, have fought in their defence and saved their lives. If in a fit of anger they kill either the man who feeds or the man who trains them, they pine so much for their loss that they refuse to take food, and sometimes die of hunger.
$^{12}$They copulate like horses, and the female casts her calf chiefly in spring. It is the season for the male, when he is in heat and becomes ferocious. At this time he discharges a fatty substance through an orifice near the temples. It is also the season for the females, when the corresponding passage opens. $^{13}$They go with young for a period which varies from sixteen to eighteen months. The dam suckles her calf for six years. $^{14}$Most of them live as long as men who attain extreme longevity, and some live over two hundred years. They are liable to many distempers, and are not easily cured. $^{15}$The remedy for diseases of the eye is to wash it with cows' milk. For most of their other diseases draughts of black wine are administered to them. For the cure of their wounds they are made to ​swallow butter, for this draws out iron. Their sores are fomented with swine's flesh.