Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-08-31
Catching Elephants.

The other part of elephant shooting,
which can only characterize as fun"
and not as sport" is ''kraaling" them.
This is done for the purpose of obtaining
recruits for the public works depart
ment, temple elephants for service in
the temples, and now and then for cir
cuses, elephants to be trained to stand
on their heads and take coppers in (not
policemen 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 thew
require so many elephants. Then the
temple priests and the circus people, if
any, want so many more, and they come
in second hand. The position of the
''kraar' is determined on, and then the
whole village, man, woman and child,
turn out as heaters. 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 circle, and, rs 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
brighten a ''herd'' of elephants into go
ing the way you want them-quite diff
ferent from the solitary rogue. Half a
dozen men with white wands will keep
a whole herd together, like a flock of
sheep. The "kraar' is about two hun
dred yards in. diameter, and is formed
by making a strong stock alley, with a
narrow entrance, into which the ele-
plants are driven. Once there, tame
elephants 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 iammed
so tight that he can not move. Then
natives creep in underneath and
make ropes fast all round his
legs, tying the end of one to a strong
tree This Is gradually shorted until,
from sheer fatigue, he lies down, and
then goodbye to freedom. He is
starved there until he either rises as
Elephant No. 80 of the Public Works
Department" or as the great and only
Jumbo of the greatest show on
earth. When herd is driven in there
Is generally big male elephant along
with II, who has 10 be shot before any
thing can be done in capturing the fe-
males. he rs a true gentleman, and
goes tramping all over the '..kraal {"
trumpeting and trying to protect his
friends from the animal man. When
the Duke of Edinburgh visited Ceylon a
great 3" kraal was gotten up for his
benefit, which attended. He was due
at certain date, but he was two DAYS
behind time, and when he did arrive he
entered the temporary village of huts
under as Unique a triumpha1 arch as |
expect he ever had gone Under. II
was composed of all the empty beer.
champagne, soda-water, whisky and
brandy bottles that had been drank
while awaiting his overdue arrival. and,
can tell you, the arch was a pretty big
one, as the climate is very thirst pro-
yocative." At the same "kraal's he
bad very narrow squeak for his life.
Two good shots, Messrs. Fisher and
Varian, were put alongside of him, and
big elephant was to be the subject OF
slaughter. When he charged the Duke
nred and missed, and, strange to saw,
both Fisher and yarlau did the same.
The elephant was almost on the Duke
when the sound of q rife-shot rung out,
and the great beast dropped almost at
his feet. No one knew where the shot
had come from until attention was di-
rected to small cloud of blue smoke
boating from tree-top, and it was dis
covered thar 's Cingalee" shikarree
bad shot the elephant, when the others
had missed, with an old fiint-lock musket
SO the mourning warehouses in England
lost big trade.
When the elephant is caught and
tanned, there is no animal under the sun
that exceeds him in sagacity. The
touch Of his trunk is IS gentle Is the