The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-12-30
Queer Neres On Elephants.

Twice round an elephants forefoot
gives his height to within an inch or
two. As regards age. looking to their
peculiar dentition and other circum-
stances, Mr.. Sanderson thinks 1t by no
means improbable that elephants i've
to $50 or 200 years. No one has ever.
apparently, seen the remains Of . dead
elephant and this circumstance is 30
marked As to have given rise TO the be-
Lief among some wild tribes that wild
elephants never die; whilst others be-
neve that there Is . place unseen by
human eye 10 which they retire to end
their dsya In Mr.. Sanderson's wan
derings for years through elephant jun
gles, he has not only never seen the re-
mains of An elephant that had died .
natural death, but he has never met any
one among the jungle tribes or profes-
sional hunters who had The Cingalese
have . superstition that ON feeling the
approach Of dissolution the elephant re-
tires to . solitary valley and there re-
signs himself TO death There is . sim
liar belief In India, but Mr.. Sandsrson
shows that it 10 untenablo- One would
not expect to hear that elephants are
expert swimmers, though they can no
more Jump . trench eight feet wide
than they can dance . hornpipe. Such,
tact that large numbers Of them arc an
nualiy sent across the tideway OF the
Ganges between Dacca and Barrack-
pore and are sometimes six consecutive
hours without touching the bottom. Mr..
siver 800 yards wide with his hind legs
IL
drowned. apparently BY being attacked
| With cramps or with ut.
The belief that wild elephants have
decreased in India Is shown by Mr..
Sanderson to DO incorrect The records
of the past fifty years attest that there
Ia no diminution In the numbers now
obtainable in Bengal. whilst In South
ern India elephants have become % nu-
merous Of late years that they are an
nually appearing in places where they
have never been heard of before. In
fact, Mr.. Sanderson thinks that unless
something be done, the rife will have
to be used to protect the ryots Of tracts
bordering upon elephant jungles. To
give an idea of the number of wild ele-
plants in some parts of India, the lee
turer stated that during the past
three years sos elephants have been
captured by the Dacca Kheddah estsb.
lishment In a tract Of country forty miiei
long by twenty broad in the Caro- Hills,
whilst not less than 1000 were met
with during the hunting operations
The lecturer gave graphic description
Of the different modes of capturing and
training the elephant. Here il an ex
tract: " When an elephant chases the
men they betake themselves to the shell
ter of tree trunks. bamboo clumps o
long grass, and 1t is astonishing to se,
how they frequently escape uninjured
| have known many cases or men stand
? ing against a tree, or hiding in tufts o
long grass within couple of yards o
elephants that were pausing in indecis
ion, without being discovered, thougl
the elephants were aware of their clos
proximity, as they kicked up the groun'
in anger and then made of. In sucl
cases the slightest movement woult
have led to the hunters being instantl,
trampled to death. Men are frequentl,
killed, OF course, but they are almos
always young hands who are learning
l saw one such make a narrow escap
few months ago. He ran from an ell
ephant and climbed tree; the elephan
butted the trunk and the man fell down
but the pursuer was 30 astonished q
the sight that she fed at once. Some
times drives are conducted by torch
, light, and those seldom fail, owing I
the elephants fear Of fire. The scene
on these occasions arc exciting beyon'
description -"-LSsdon 0tO6e.