Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-08-09
The E1enhnnfs of the East.

| A person who had never seen wild elephant
can f1rm no idea of his real character either men
tally or physically. The unwieldy and sleepy
looking beast, who penned up in cage in mer'
aperie, receives sxpence in his trunk, and turn;
with difficulty to deposit it in box, whose men
tai mowers seem to be concentrated in the idea o.
receiving buns tossed into gaping mouth by
children's hands !; this very beast may have come
! from warlike stock. His sire may have beer
the terror of district, pitess highway -maD
whose soul thirsted for blood; who, lying in wai
in some thick bush would rush upon the unwary
passer by, and know no pleasure greater than the
act OF crushing his victim to shapeless mass
beneath his feet.
have heard people exclam upon hearing an
ecdotes of elephant hunting, "Poor things ~
Poor things. indeed should like to see the very
person who thus expresses his pity going at his
best pace with savage elephant after him; give
him lawn to run upon if he likes. and see the
elephant gain foot in every yard OF the chase
fire in his eye, fury in his headong charge; and
would not the flying gentleman. who lately ex.
claimed "Poor things !" be thankful to the lucky
bullet that would save him from destruction =
There are no animals more misunderstood than
elephants; they are naturally savage, wary -anc
revengeful, displaying as great courage when Ia
their wild state as any animal known L ne lac
of their great natural sagacity renders them the
more dangerous as foes. Even when they are
tanned, there many that are not sale for &
stranger to approach, and they are then only kept
in awe by the sharp driving hook of the mohout.
Elephants are gregarious, and the average mum
Der of herd is about eight altogether they .'re
quenty form bodies of fifty and even eighty in one
IT,. boo of n larm
portion of females and they are constantly me
without single bull in their number. | have
seen some small herds formed exclusively of bulls
but this is very rare The bull is generally much
larger than the female, and is generally more saw
AGE. His habits frequently induce him to prefer
solitude to gregarious life. He then becomes
double vicious He seldom strays many miles
from one locality, which he haunts for many years
He then becomes what is termed "rogue."-
He then waylays the natives, and in fact becomes
n scuurge to the neighborhood, attacking the in.
offensive without the slightest provocaton, carry
inc destruction into the the native' paddy fields
and perfectly regardless ofnight fires or the usual
precautions for soaring wild beasts.
The daring pluck OF these rogues is only equal.
led by their extreme cunning. Endowed with
that wonderful power ofscent peculiar TO elephants
he travels in the day time doDn the wind thus
nothing can follow upon his track without his
knowledge. He winds his enemy as the cautious
hunter advances noselessy upon his track, and
he stands with ears thrown forward, tail erect
trunk thrown high in the air, with its disteuded
tin pointed to the spot from which he winds the
silent but approaching danger. Perfectly motion
less does he stand, like statue in ebony, the very
essence of attention, every nerve Of sense and
hearing stretched to its cracking point; not mus
Gle moves, not sound ola rustling branch against
s rough slaes ne Meanwhile the Warv tracher
stoops to the ground, and with practised eye
pierces the tangled brushwood in search of his CO.
Iossal feet. Still further and further he silently
creeps forward, when suddenly crash bursts
through the whole Jungle; the moment has arriv-
ed for the ambushed charge, and the elephant is
upon him.-From the Rife and the Hound in
Ceylon.