The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-11-03
"krallinR Elephants.

| nsooilhH CkCPuuutb lh 1uuld, buSS
hunter, is done for the purpose of oh.
tanning recruits for the public work.
department, temple elephants for service
In the temples, and now and then for
circuses, elephants to be trlned 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 they require
80 many elephants. Then tho temple
priests and the circus people, II any,
want 30 many more, and they come in
secondhand. The position Of the 'skraal"
ID determined ON. and then the whole
village, man, woman and child, turn Oh.
as beaters. A radius OF say ten miles Ia
taken in, and they 'tspot" the herd ami
then begin to drive them towards the
"kraal." BY day it is all done by shoot,
ing, but at night large fires are lighted In
a circle, and, as rule, the herd nevcr
attempt to break through, but now ani
then they do, and then the whole perform.
ance has to start again. 1t takes very
little to frighten "herd" OF elephants
INTO gong tho way you want them--qutte
different from tho solitary rogue. Half
dozen men with white wands will keep d
whole herd together like flock of sheep.
The "kraar' Is about 200 yards in diam.
eter, and is formed by making strous
stock alley, with narrow entrance,
mo which the elephants are driven.
OaCe there, tame elephants, generally
females, arn introduced with mahou,s,
who make friends with the wild ones,
and two tame ones will slide up to
| wild one, one on each eide, gradually
closing up on him until he is jalnmed So
tight that he cannot move. Then natives
creep in underneath aud make ropes fast
all round his legs, tying the end Of one to
a strong tree. This ls gradually shortened
until, from sheer fatigue, hc lien down,
anu tIicn goodbye To freedom. Hc
starved t.,."" until he either rises
elephant NO. ~ Of the public wog'
department" or AS ''the great and o.,
Jumbo, Of the ''greatest show on carr
When Il herd is driven in there is gen
ally a big bull elephant along with il, W g..
has to be shot before anything can
done III capturing the females. He ls
true gentleman, and goes rampagiug a.,
over the "kraa'," trumpeting aud tryiiig
to protect his ''lady friends' from the ant
maj man. When the Duke or Edinburgh
visited Ccyon great ''krall' was gotten
up for his benefit, which | attended. He
was due at a certain date, but he was
two days behind, and when he did arrive
he entered the Temporary village Of hus
under AS unique triumphAl arch as
expect he had over gonn under. IL Was
composed Of all the empty beer, chain
pagne, soda-watcr, whisky and brandy
bottles that had been drank while await
Ing bis overdue arrival, and, toll you.
the arch wa1 pretty biy one, as thu
climate is very ''th'rst provocative"
At the same "kraal" he had very narrow
squeak for his life. Two good shots,
blcssrs Fisher and Variau. were put
alongsldo OF him. and big bull elephant
wae to be the subject Of slaughter. When
the bull charged the duke tired and missed,
and, strange to say, both Fisher aud Va
rian did the pamo. The elephant was al
most on tho duke when the sound of
rifle shot rung out, and tho great beast
dropped almost at h,s feet. No one knew
where the shot had come from until alton
ton was directed TO small cloud OF blue
| smoke floating from tree-top, and 1t was
discovered that a "CiDgalee" shlkaree had
shot the elephant when tho others h"d
missed with an old aint lock niusket. 30
| tho mourning warehouses; in England lost
| big trade.
When the elephant ls caught and tamed
| there ls no animal under the sun that e4
| ceods HIM III sagacty, and, IN many res
poets, he Is far superior to man. Th"
touch OF his trunk Is as gentle as the toucl.
Of woman's hand, and the stamp OF h'a
foot, or blow from that same Yent:u
trunk, is as powerful as That from stean
hammer. The government uses the
chiefly in the public works departmeI
where they are employed In moving lar
blocks Of stone, where it would be oxpol
aivc, and, IN fact, impossible to use stea'
engines. They have been known to dr.
up huge blocks Of stone, shove them In
position and then sway slowly backwar
and If the stone was not perfectly right
placed, give il a push either to the rig
or to the left, until 1t was.
| A public works department man on
| told me that he was supcrlntendlng Il
unloading OF lot of stool tubing, at whlc
olcphants were engaged. Tho tubing b.
been Oiled.to prevent rust, and when t
elephant took .he first piece up III
trunk it slipped, on account Of the co
He took it up again with the same resul
and finally he seemed to understand i
! and, pushing 1t with his foot to wher
| there was some sand, b, rolled 1t owe!
and over until the sand stuck to 1t and
prevented 1t from slipping, whom ho too
| it up and triumphantly carried II.
|