"When the herd is discovered by parties who are sent out for the purpose
of reconnoitering, they take notice of the direction in which it is
ranging, and as, if their food is plentiful, they generally continue to
advance in one direction for miles together, the hunters construct, at a
considerable distance in front, a series of enclosures, into which it
is their object to drive them.

"When every thing is prepared, the hunters, sometimes to the number of
several hundreds, divide themselves into small parties, and form a large
circle, so as to surround the herd. Each party generally consists of
three men, whose duty it is to light a fire and to clear a footpath
between their station and that of their neighbours, so that in this way
a communication is kept up by the whole circle, and assistance can at
once be afforded at any given point.

"New circles are constantly formed at short distances in advance, so as
gradually to drive the animals in the required direction. The hunters
are all the while concealed by the luxuriant jungle, and do not show
themselves to the elephants at all, but urge them forward by the use of
drums, rattles, &c. &c., from the noise of which the animals seek to
escape, and thus wander on, feeding as they proceed toward the toils
which are prepared for them.

"The _keddah_, or trap, as it may be called, consists of three
enclosures, each formed of strong stockades on the outside of deep
ditches; the innermost one being the strongest, because by the time they
arrive in it, the elephants are generally in a state of great
excitement, and would soon break down a fragile enclosure, and make
their escape.