The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-07-15
Elephants and Their WAYS

H. IWlc0 around an 6lopnanbS 10fe-tOOt
gives his height to within an inch or
two. As regards age, looking to their
peculiar dentition and other circum-
stances, Mr.. Sanderson thinks it by no
means improbable that elephants live to
100 or 200 years. No one has ever, APP
parently, seen the remains of dead
elephant, and this circumstance is so
marked as to have given rise to the be-
lief among some wild tribes that wild
elephants never die; while others be-
lieve that there is a place unseen by hui
man eyes to which they retire to end
their days. In Mr.. Sanderson's wander
ings for years through elephant jungles
he has not, only never seen the remains
of an elephant that had died a natural
death, but he has never met any one
among the jungle tribes or profess
sional hunters who had. The Cingalese
have superstition tnat ON feeling the
approach of dissolution the elephant re-
tires to solitary valley and there re-
signs himself to death. There is SINH
lar belief in India, but Mr.. Sanderson
shows that it is untenable. ISL.
One would not expect to hear that ele-
plants are expert swimmers, though
they can no more jump o trench eight
feet wide than they can dance a born
pipe. Such, however, seems to be the
case, from the fact that large numbers
of them are annually sent across the
t:deway of the Ganges between Dacca
and Barrackpore, and are sometimes six
consecutive hours without touching the
bottom. Mr.. Sanderson has seen an ele-
plant swim river 800 yards wide with
his hind legs tied together. They are
sometimes drowned, apparently by be-
ing attacked with cramps or with a. fit.
The belief that wild elephants have
decreased in India Is shown by Mr.. San
derson to be incorrect. The records of
the past fifty years attest that there is
no diminution In the numbers now OBJ
tainable in Bengal, while in Southern
India elephants have become so numer-
Gus of late years that they are annually
appearing in places where they have
never been heard of before. In fact,
Mr.. Sanderson thinks that unless some
thing be done the rifle will have to be
used to protect the ryots or tracts Dor
dering upon elephant jungles. To give
an idea of the number of wild elephants
In some parts of India the lecturer stated
that during the past three years SOB ele-
plants have been captured by the Decca
Klieddah establishment iii a tract of
country forty miles long by twenty
broad in the Caro- hills, while not less
than l 1000 were met with during the
hunting operations 5i 8ua
When an elephant chases the men
they betake themselves to the shelter of
trunks, bamboo clumps or long
grass, and it is astonishing to see
how frequently they escape uninjured.
[ have known many cases of men stand
ing against tree or hiding in tufts of long
grass within a couple of yards of ele-
plants that were pausing in indecision
without being discovered, though the
elephants were perfectly aware of their
close proximity, as they kicked up the
ground in anger and then made off. In
such eases the slightest movement
would have led to the hunters being in
stantly trampled to death. Men are
frequently killed. Of course, but they
are almost always young hands who are
learning. / saw one such make a mar
row. escape. b He, ran from an elephant
aud climbed tree the elephant butted
the trunk and the man. fell down, but
his pursuer was SO astonished at the
sight that sba ded at once. London
Il h. a.