Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-02-19
Vol. XVI. Whole Nc. 1903. Ee,8,
determination of Indian Beasts,
From the Cornhill.1

From the Cornhill.
A belt of Jungle filed with ferocious ami
mails lay for years around the cultivated
land. The official records frequently speak
of the mailbag being carried off BY tigers,
and the custom Of the mail-runners carving
Jangling rings or bells to scare away the
wild beasts survived to our own day. Lord
CORVALLIS, in 1889, had to sanction a grant
of public money to free the military road
from the depredations of these animals
The ravages of the wild elephants were on
larger scale, and their determination form
ed one of the most important duties of the
British officers after the country passed un-
der our rule. Tigers, leopards and wolves
slew their thousands of men and their hun
dreds of thousands of cattle But the herd
OF wild elephants was absolutely resistless,
lifting off roofs. pushing down walls, tramp
ling village under foot as if it were a CITY
OF sand which a child had built upon the
shore. In two parishes alone, during the
last few years OF the native administration,
ttty-six hamlets with their surrounding
lands had all been destroyed and gone to
jungle. caused by the depredations of wild
elephants" Another official return states
that forty market villages throughout Birb-
hum District had been deserted from the
same cause.
Large reductions had to be made in the
land-tax, and the East India Company bor-
rowed tame elephants from the native Vice
roy's stud in order to catch the wild ones.
''l had ocular proof on my Journey" writes
an English officer in 1891, of their ravages.
The poor timid native ties his cot in tree,
to which he retires when the elephants ap-
proach, and silently views the destruction of
his cottage and the whole profits of his
labor" "One night" writes an English
survey in 1910, although had guard,
the men of the village close to my tent re-
tired to the trees, and the women hid them
selves among the cattle, leaving their huts
prey to the elephants, who knew very well
where to look for grain. Two nights before,
some of them had unroofed a hut in the
village, and had eaten up all the grain which
poor family possessed" Most fortunately
for the population of the country" wrote
the greatest elephant hunter of the last CEN
tury, they delight in the sequestered range
of the mountains; if they preferred the
plains, whole kingdoms would be laid waste"
All this is now changed. One of the COM
plants Of the modern Englishman in India is
that he can so seldom get a shot at tiger.
Wolves are diving out in many provinces:
the ancient Indian hon has disappeared. The
Wild elephant is so rare that he is specially
protected by the Government, and in most
parts of India he can only be caught by Of
hcial license or under official supervision
Many districts have petitoned for a close
season. so as TO preserve the edible game
still remaining The only animal that has
detied the energy of the Rritish official is
the snake. One may. however, judge Of the
loss of life by Wild beasts in the last century
from the deaths caused by this, their chief
survivor at the present day. The ascertained
number of persons who died from snake-bte
in 1870 was 1000 out of u total of 2l. .39l
killed by snakes and all other wild animals.
The deaths from wild beasts in the last CEN
tury were probably not under 10000 a
wear