hundred pounds of fodder is the proper daily allowance for an elephant.

There have been frequent discussions upon the important subject of
elephant-feeding. Mr. G. P. Sanderson, the superintendent of the keddah
department in Assam, has declared against the necessity of allowing a
ration of grain in addition to the usual fodder. This must naturally
depend upon the quality of the green food. If the locality abounds in
plantains, the stems of those plants are eagerly devoured, and every
portion except the outside rind is nourishing. Even then the waste is
excessive should the stems be heedlessly thrown down before the animal.
It will immediately proceed to strip long fibrous ribbons from the stem
by placing one foot upon the extremity, and then tearing off the
alternate layers like the skin of an onion. These it converts into
playthings, throwing them over its back and neck until it is dressed in
dangling necklaces, which by degrees, after serving as toys, are
ultimately devoured. The proper method of feeding an elephant with
plantains where an allowance of rice is added, is by splitting the
entire stem through the centre, and then cutting it into transverse
sections about two feet in length. As each layer is detached, it
resembles a delicately coloured trough, nearly white; this is doubled up
in the centre and it at once forms a hollow tube, similar to a very
thick drain tile. A handful of rice is placed within, and it is secured
by tying with a fibrous strip from the plantain stem. A large pile of
these neat packages is prepared for every elephant, and, when ready, the
mahout sits by the heap and hands the parcels one by one to the
ever-expectant trunk.

The delicacy of an elephant's palate is extraordinary, and the whims of
the creature are absurd in the selection or rejection of morsels which
it prefers or dislikes. I once saw a peculiar instance of this in an