The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1881-11-16
4 Jealous Elephant.

The following amusing account of
| the pranks of o Jealous elephant is taken
from the correspondence of an English
merchant in R%angoon:
Some male elephants have no tusks.
They are called chimes" by the Burmese.
The most powerful animal l ever had
was one of them. He was very tall,
and in strength a perfect Samson
among elephants. An incident in his
history is worth relating. Samson
had fallen into a capricious mood, under
the influence OF a little siren belonging
to the herd, and in q fit of jealousy he
frightened all the others so thoroughly
one night that they broke their letters
and made a bolt Of it out of the timber
yard with Samson in pursuit. One
unfortunate member, who was on the
sick list at the time, and had an impedi.
mept in his walk, was bowled over and
trampled on several times, and was
never fit for anything but the hospital
afterward. The others took to the
Jungle, and it cost some money to re-
cover them. Samson remained in pos
session of the Undergrad for three
whole days, nc living thing daring to
venture Zeal him. At the end of that
time he walked off with his COM
pauion one night to the jungle,
and selected q spot for his future resi-.
dence close to o mud pool. For some
days he made raids upon the adjoining
gardens, eating up the fruit trees with
out conjunction; and in revenge for
some opposition he met with from a
market-gardener, who did not appre-
ciate his new neighbours high-handed
way of doing things, leveled his hut to
the ground. Things were beginning to
get serious. Claims for damages be-
came unpleasantly frequent, and it was
absolutely necessary to put q stop to his
depredations. Accordingly I sent out a
deputation of elephants to wait upon
him, with picked men as drivers and
attendants for the purpose Of bringing
him to reason. There we're ten ele-
plants altogether, the senior member
being a very patriarchal looking animal,
with an immense pairof tusks-the one,
in fact, who was always employed to
settle difficulties among the juniors, and
in this capacity he had been uniformly
successful: When the deputation ar
rived at the spot, Samson wa
enjoying his morning bath in the mud,
and they surrounded him. The patri-
arch, with the chief mahout driving,
and another good man and true behind
him, for the purpose of supplying any
lack of moral courage that might mani
fest itself under trying circumstances,
was taken nearest to the renegade. His
sweetheart was quietly browsing among
the bamboos close by. The moment
Samson realized the situation, he made
a rush from the bath at the patriarch,
who, forgetting his wonted dignity of
manner, turned tail and bolted. The
hook and the spear, with which the dri.
vers were armed, alike failed to restore
courage to the leader. On he went,
tearing through the jungle, the branches
of trees and thorny creepers making
sad havoc with the persons of the men
on his back. His bad example de.
moralized the whole force they fed
for their lives, every n of them. At
last it came to be q race between Sam
son and the patriarch, the other ele-
plants having made lateral tracks for
themselves, and got clear of danger.
When it came to close quarters between
the two, the mahout, thinking discre-
ton the better part of valor, laid hold
of the branch of a tree as be passed and
held on, leaving the other man to his
fate. In a very short time he too was
unseated, but in an involuntary man.
ner; the elephant shot under the
branch of a tree which did not afford
space for the man to pass undera as we'll,
and he was swept to the ground. He
able, however, to elude the pur-
suer, who was so eager to get at the
four-footed fugitive that he took no no.
tice of the fallen rider as be clawled
along into the thick jungle. Forum
ately no life was lost II this most ex-
citing adventure. Even the patriarch
got off scot free. When tired of the
pursuit, Samson returned to his rural
retreat. The deputation got home in
the evening more frightened than hurt.