The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-08-22 00:00:00

GREAT CAPTURE OF ELEPHANTS.

Fifty elephants have been captured in a kheddah in
Mysore. 'I he capture is thus described by an eye-
witness:—" One of the herd which proved refractory
was shot. This was a painful scene, as the elephant
was a valuable one, and acted only in defence of her
young; but it was unavoidable, as the life of one or
both officers was endangered, as well as those of the
beaters. The next scene partook of the ridiculous.
The herd had dispersed. The little yellow calf, which
was filled with rage at the sight of the officers, with
ears extended and tail aloft, screaming wildly,
charged from one to the other; they, wishing to
save it, darted round trees ; ono f them was, however,
nearly coming to grief, as when changing to another
tree, he tripped and fell; and the result might have
been disastrous had not comrade run to the rescue
and given the perfina, youngster a telling butt
with his rifle. Its attention was next turned to a
native, who took to his heels when lie found that three
smart blows with a club on the head had little
effect. After some severe struggles, in which a
few more natives were floored, he was at last
secured to a tree by a native's waist cloth and a
jungle creeper. While all this took place the whole
beat became disorganised. Another was com-
menced, after a short delay, with more fortunate
results. The herd was brought to the old spot
and then got together, moving round and round in a
circle, and being kept back from the approach to the
small kheddah by a troublesome tusker. At length
they were forced to proceed by the shots fired, and by
firebrands carried through the paths in the thicket.
After a short pause, owing to a stand being made by a
few of the most refractory, the last of the herd passed
in with a rush, closely followed into the inner in-
closure by a frantic beater waving a firebrand."

who is in cood work here would not be always
certain to better himself by a change.
young said healthy and energetic who have
not yet struck root deeply in the Old Country
may go forth if they please, and take their chance in
the New World. Life there will have much to offer
them. They must be prepared to do hard battle,
and must not hope for success on too easy term, ;
but the prize they are seeking will not improbably be
within their grasp, and they may achieve for them.
selves in the end an honourable independence and a
position beyond the reach of the less enterprising com-
rades whom they have left behind. There can be no
greater mistake, however, than a belief that the least
settled districts of the world are an easy field for the
idle and the shiftless and the improvident. Such
people will find in America the very worst market for
their defects. We could well spare them, it is true;
but we cannot, in their own interest, counsel them to
leave us and commit themselves to a new home and to
the tender mercies of exacting strangers. Tt. Bobs.
titian character is not one of which we would speak or
think with harshness; but it is a hnlyday character at
best, not calculated ior success in life anywhere -least
of all where success is especially the reward of cons
tinuoics and hard exertion.