Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-09-29
CRUELTY.
Catching Elephants-Howt the Beasts are
Secured - The Duke of Edinburgh's
Narrow Escape.

Iun ana not as sport" IS "kraal
ing" them. This is done for the
purpose of obtaining recruits for the
public works department, temple
elephants for service in the temples,
and now and then for circuses, ele
plants to be trained to stand on their
heads and take coppers in (not police
men) with their trunks. The way
they are caught is in this wise: The
head man of the village receives a
notice from the government that they
require SO many elephants. Then
the temple priests and the circus peo-
pie, if any, want SO many mere, and
they come in second hand. The posi-
ton of the "kraal" is determined on,
and then the whole village, man,
woman, and child, turn out as beaters.
A radius of say ten miles is taken in.
and they "spot" the herd and then
begin to drive them toward the
"kraal" BY day it is all done by
shooting, but at night large fires are
lighted in a circle, and, as a rule, the
herd never attempt to break through,
but now and again they do, and then
the whole performance has to start
again. 1t takes very little to frighten
"herd" of elephants into going the
way you want thein-quite different
from the solitary rogue. Half a
dozen mon with white wands will
keep whole herd together, like a
flock of sheep The ''kraal" is about
two hundred yards in diameter, and
is formed by making strong stock
alley, with narrow entrance, into
which the elephants are driven. Once
there, tame elephants, generally fe.
mails, are introduced with mahouts,
who make friends with the wild ones,
and two tame ones will slide up to a
wild one, one on each side, gradually
closing up on him until he is jammed
so tight that he cannot move. Then
natives creep in underneath and make
ropes fast all round his legs, tying
the end of one to strong tree. This
is gradually shortened, until from
sheer fatigue he lies down, and then
good-by to freedom. He is starved
there until he either rises us "Ele-
phant No. 90 of the Public Works
Department" or as 1.-The great and
only Jumbo" of the greatest show
Oh earth When herd is driven in
there is generally big bull elephant
along with it, who has to he shot be-
fore anything can be done in captur-
ing the female. He is true gentle
man, and goes ramping all over the
"kraal' trumpeting and trying to
protect his 'lady friends" from the
animal man.
When the Duke of Edinburgh
visited Ceylon a great 'kraap was
gotten up for his benefit, which l
attended. He was due at certain
date, but he was two days behind
time, and when he did arrive he
entered the temporary village or huts
under as unique triumphal arch as
L expect he had ever gone under. 1t
was composed of all the empty beer,
champagne, soda-water, whiskey and
brandy bottles that had been drank
while awaiting his overdue arrival,
and, l can tell you, the arch was
pretty big one, as the climate is very
''thirst provocative" At the same
"kraal" he had very narrow squeak
for his life. Two good shots, Messrs.
Fisher and Varian, were put along
side of him, and big bull elephant
was to be the subject of slaughter.
When the bull charged, the duke
fired and missed, and, strange to say,
both Fisher and Varian did the same.
The elephant was almost on the duke
when the sound Of a rifle shot rung
out, and the great beast dropped
almost at his feet. No one knew
where the shot came from until atten
ton was directed to small cloud of
blue smoke floating from ee-top.
and it was discovered that "Cin
galee" shikaree had shot the elephant
when the others had missed, with an
old fintlock musket. So the mourn
ing warehouse in England lost big
trade.
When the elephant is caught ard
tanned, there is no animal under the
sun that exceeds him in sagacity.
The touch of his trunk is as gentle
as the touch OF a woman's hand, and
the stamp Of his feet or blow from
that same gentle trunk is as powerful
as that from a steam-hammer. The
government uses them chiefly in the
public works department, where they
are employed in moving huge blocks
of stone, where it would be expensive
and, in fact, impossible to use steam
engines. They have been known to
drag up huge blocks of stone, shove
them into position, and then away
slowly backward, and, if the stone
was not perfectly rightly placed, give
it push, either to the right or to the
left, until it was.
A public works department man
once told me that he was superintend.
ing tine unloading of lot of steel
tubing, at which elephants were en-,
gagged. The tubing had been oiled
to prevent rust, and when the elephant
took the first piece up in his trunk it
slipped on account of the oil. He
took it up again with the same result,
and finally he seemed to understand
it, and, pushing it with his foot to
where there was some sand, he rolled
it over and over until the sand stuck
to it and prevented it slipping, when
he took it up and triumphantly car
ried it.
Stories of the sagacity OF the ele-