Elephant hunting or Kraalling in Ceylon.1

The use of a sledge hammer to drive a tack would appear scarcely more incongruous than the occasional practice of the Hindoo husbandman of having an elephant draw his plow. The employment of this powerful and sagacious animal in important work where heavy lifting is required, does not seem to detract from his dignity; but plowing appears a petty task for so noble a beast. That he does his duty, here as elsewhere, when well trained, need not be asserted. Neither stump nor stone in the way of the plowshare could stop him, although the implement itself might give way.

The plow, as it is in India, is a peculiar device, with a single handle and a very long beam. The farmers, of the United States would utterly scorn it. The area which can be turned up in a day with an elephant is large, and the animal is remarkably handy in one respect. At the close of the day's labor, he picks up the plow and carries it home in his mouth. In mnay ways the huge beast proves useful to his owner.

¹The two tame ones are helping to capture the wold one between them. If he attempts to escape they throw their trunks around him and hold him fast.
Return to text.

WHERE CERTAIN THINGS CAME FROM
CHINESE WEDDINGS
Table of Contents
Return to Main Page
© 1998, 2002 by Lynn Waterman

Oyster catching, Ceylon.

Madder came from the East. Celery originated in Germany. The onion originated in Egypt. Tobacco is a native of Virfinia. The nettle is a native of Europe. The citron is a native of Greece. The pine is a native of America. The poppy came from North Africa; rye, from Siberia; barley, from the mountains of Himalaya; wheat, from Tartary; parsley, from Sardinia; the sunflower, from Peru, as, also, the potato; the parsnip, from Arabia; the cabbage, from England, although it grows wild in Siberia; millet came from India; the apple and pear, from Europe; spinach, from Arabia; the mulberry tree, from Persia; the horse chestnut, from Thibet; the cucumber, from the East Indies; the quince, from the Island of Crete; the radish, from China and Japan; peas, from Egypt garden cress, from Egypt and the East; horse radish, from the south of Europe; the Zealand flax shows its origin by its name. The coriander grows wild near the Mediterranean. The Jerusalem artichoke is a Brazilian production. Hemp came from Persia and the East Indies. The tomato came from South America, but was known in England as early as 1587. Dodoens, a Holland agriculturist, mentions the tomato in 1853, as "a vegetable to be eaten with pepper, salt and oil." The bean came from Persia; the beet from Africa and Asia; cayenne Pepper, from the West Indies; and the sweet potato, from tropical America, whence it was early introduced into Europe.

Buddha's tooth in Buddha temple. This is most sacred: Buddhists come from all over the world to see it.	Cinnamon tree, Ceylon.

Extracting cocoa oil—process of manufacture. Copsa—the inner kernel of the cocoanut—is ground for cocoa oil.

THE DELHI DURBAR OF 1903
ELEPHANTS USED FOR PLOWING IN INDIA
Table of Contents
Return to Main Page
© 1998, 2002 by Lynn Waterman