The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-03-11

| tue HODle DedStS- IL was nothing Du
pot hunting, as the hunter would lie
in wait where the herd went to water
: and then pick them off at his leisure,
and, as CeylOn elephants have no tusks
1t was done in mere wantOnness.
Major Rogers, of the Ceylon Rifles,
was a famous elephant shot in his day,
and he was credited with having slain
with his own gun over twelve hundred
elephants. This | believe to be a well
authenticated fact He once made a
bet that he would kill two elephants
with one shot. The way he did it was
TO shoot the mother when the young
elephant was sucking her, and the
mother falling on her young one
crushed it to death.
elephants are caught in what are
known as kraals. They are caught
either for use in the Public Works De-
partment, for service in the native
temples, or for sale to some European
menagerie. When a kraal is to be
formed word is sent to the native head
man of the village near where the
kraal is to be built, and he, in his turn,
sends out hundreds of beaters. When
the herd to be operated on is located
the heaters form semi-circla and begin
driving the animal slowly toward the
kraal. At night they build watch fires,
and between them the native patrol,
armed with white wands, which are
quite sufficient to keep the elephants
from breaking through. They gradu-
ally work them up toward the kraal,
which is an open space in the jungle
with some stout trees growing within
it. 1t is surrounded by a strong stock
ade and has only narrow entrance.
Into this the herd is driven. The herd
Is generally led by an old bull elephant,
and before any attempt to capture an
elephant is made this old gentleman
must be shot. When the Duke of Edin-
| burgh visited the island a kraal was
ten up for his especial benefit, and
K. H. entered the kraal to shoot the
bull, but he missed and the bull very
nearly did away with young Guelph.
In fact he was right on him when Il
timely shot, fired by a native sitting
up a tree and armed with an old
flint musket, brought the bulls
career to an end. The bull got rid of,
the next thing to do is to send in two
tame elephants, with their mahouts,
who single out the elephant to be capt
ured. The tame ones then 'scuddle'
up, one on each side, and profess great
friendship for their wild companion,
gradually pressing him or her closer and
closer until they have him fast. Then a
native sli ps in underneath and quickly
makes ropes fast to the wild ones legs,
a hn1 IL, h. he 81
plants to the nearest tree, where, after
being thrown to the ground, he is Sc
curely bound and left there to starve
for two or three days. He is then quite
tame, and when he rises up he il no
longer monarch of the forest but ele-
plant No. 500 of the Public Works De-
partment, or the great Jumbo ola tray
cling circus.
THE sagacity of elephants is pro-
verbal, but few who have not person
ally witnessed it can imagine how use
full they are to man in such places as
Ceylon. Without their aid it would
have been impossible for the Govern
ment to have covered the island, as it
has done, with a splendid network of |
roads and railways. In some places it !
would have been impossible to have
transported machinery, and without |
hosting machinery the great blocks of |
stone used in the foundations and but /
tresses of bridges could not have been /
mOyed-but here the elephant came |
into play, and l have seen the |
noble beast at work on the
roads, moving a great block of
stone into position and standing
back and cycling it, and then giving it
q gentle push, now on one side and now
on the other, until the stone was cor
rectly placed. An officer of the de-
partment told ME that the most sa-
gacious thing he ever knew an ele-
plant to do was on one occasion when
they were unloading some steel piping
from a railway truck. The elephants
task was to carry the piping from be-
side the truck to little farther up the
track. This he did by Selling the
piping with his trunk. But it so hap
pened that the piping had been oiled in
order to prevent it rusting, so that when
the elephant caught hold it slipped
from his grasp. He thought for mo-
ment. and then his elephantine mind
solved the problem. Near the track
was heap of sand; the animal kicked
he piping over to this with his foot.
md then rolled the piping backward
md forward in the sand. The oil made
he sand adhere, after which the ele-
ohant took the piping up and marched
off with it. Could n
human beng reason better? No Won
Ter the Government objects to such an
intelligent animal being indiScriminate-
Y slaughtered.
elephants are also in great demand
n Ceylon for service in the Buddhist
empleS. Every temple has at least
lalf dozen attached to it. and in some
If the larger temples, such rs the one
n Handy. where the sacred tooth of
3uddha is deposited, they have rs many
Is fifty. The largest number of ele-
,hants | ever saw together was when
he Prince of Wales visited Handy to
Jew Buddha's tooth. They had a
,rand procession. or Perahera. in which
'ver four hundred elephants took part.
t was weird sight. 1t took place at !
light and the rain came down in tor :
entS. Every elephant had an accom- !:
,anying guard of about a dozen devil :
Iancers, hideouSly painted, who danced
ound waving torches and giving utter. !
nee to the most unearthly shrieks.
While the Prince. arrayed in a gorgeous :
inform and surrounded by brilliant !.
taft, stood on balcony of the old
'alace of the Kings of Handy and i
watched the antics of his mothers chill d
ren. - Chicago Herald.
American Publications.
There were published in 1884. 4,OSS