St. Landry democrat., 1878-09-28

" | S"aAio w "o 'CES9c 1oV : VI uCi
exaggeration is current with regard tc
the animals height; the largest seen by
the author measured nine feet ten inches
: at the shoulder, and vet there have been
= stories of Indian elephants measuring
e from seventeen to twenty feet high.
: Twice round al elephant j foot is said to
4 be his height, and generally this measure
mert is exact. Tae price of elephants
has enormously increased Of late years;
y but the government kheddahs or ele-
: phant catching establishments enable our
government to obtain good animals at
reasonable cost. An elephant, we are
told, which costs the government $40
to capture would cost at least Gl5O in
the market. The difficulties of elephant
catching are Of course great; and there
Is nothing more interesting in this
volume than the spoItsmsn's account of
his flfst success in Mysore, when, after
infinite labor ard many failures, he
succeeded in capturing tiity-three ele-
plants. II often Think Mr.. Sander
son writes, ''of the rapture of that
moment. An hour of such varied and
high excitement "a elephant catching is
sulely worth lifetime of uneventtul
routine in towns. Sore disappoint-
ment had been undergone by my
self and men. Many tedious
days and nights had we labored against
dlscouraging incidents and bardships.
But all was forgotten in the success of
that moment" There was still much
work to be done, for the beasts driven |
INTO the enclosure had to be secured |
with the help of tame elephants, and
tty-three wild and frightened animals
cannot be "hobbled" without some
danger.
" "During the tying~up process in the
kheddah several amusing incidents oc
Cured. Active fellows would constantly
cross it on foot with ropes or other
things that were required, and at first
they were pertinaciously chased by the
wild ones. The men made for the pro-
lection of the tame elephants, and it was
considered creditable to do this with as
little hurry as circumstances would ad,
NIT. The arena formed centre of at
traction to the onlookers, as the theatre
of a Spanish buli>fght may do; and the
men who showed the gre&test coolness
were loudly applauded. The elephants,
however, soon gave up pursuing when
they became accustomed to seeing
people. The wild ones did not attempt
to interfere with the men when they
gained the shelter of the tame
elephants. On one occasion a friend
in the forest department who was {
riding ON one OF our elephants was '
swept off, as well IS the mahout ]
by an overhanging creeper when their
elephant was dragging q captive acros
The kheddah. Having but a confused S
idea CT the points of the compass when {
they gained their legs, they rushed to- |
wards the nearest elephant for protection.
It was very fine animal, but, unfortu- 8
1at y, wild ones which they mistook
or friend. The elephant was rather I
tartled, and did not take so prompt an y
advantage of their mistake as it might +
lave done. They meanwhile made some r
emarkably good time towards the gate n
If the enclo>ure, which they reached in e
atety." t
On another occasion Mr.. Sanderson "
himself had very narrow escape. Il
While his elephant was facing young 7
usker, and was therefore unable to 7
'rotect his master from the attack, c
7iId female rushed at him more than A
nee, injured his thigh severely and
7ould no doubt have killed him had not
spear struck her in the head at the
riticai moment, while a tame elephant cj
ushing at the beast the next minute 4
lmcst knocked her over. 4