Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-03-20
ON AN ELEPHANT HUNT.
HOW TO BRING DOWN THE MONARCH
& OF THE JUNGLE. I,

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1The day shot my first elephant said an
old British Indian to the reporter, will al
ways be a red letter day in my sporting cal
endar. II was in the island of Ceylon, that
ptarl Of the Indian ocean. l had started, in
company with friend, from Trincomalec,
the British naval station of the island and
perhaps the finest harbor in the world and
after driving some forty miles into the inter
Tor we left the handy and made tracks into
the Jungle. We were both armed with ex-
prss rifles, which in my opinion are by FAR
the best weapons for elephant shooting, and
We were in hopes that ere long we would
come ON the trail of the ami nor were VIC
disappointed for shortly our attention was
drawn by the native guides to the young baIn-
boos ON the side of the path, which bore I'M
mistakable signs that an elephant had been
feeding there. Soon we came ON further evil
dence of his presence, and on we went, our
eyes on the ground, toiling through the Jungle
after the elephant And, oh, the heat! And,
oh, the thirst, Every now and then We had
to halt and wipe the perspiration from our
brows, and send a native shining up a
cocoanut tree for one of the young nuts, from
which we eagerly drank the milk, mixed with
Just a leetle drop of Hennessey's three star
from our TASKS.
on THE TRAIL OF SIR JUMBO
ave were hours toiling after that brute.
and thought that we would never come up to
him. At last the trail lead right into sort
of oasis of patna, or grass land, in the middle
of which there was an island or jungle. The
trail went straight into this, so that we were
sure that we had Sir Jumbo at last. My
friend Jack p. went round TO one side while
remained on the other, and then we sent
heaters in at each end TO drive the elephant
tut. Suddenly heard cracking Of brush
wood, then a loud trumpet. and Jacks voice
shouting that the elephant had turned and
was coming my way. remembered well
wishing devoutly that he had gone in another
direction, but had not much time for think
ing, as in a minute or so out came the huge
brute. He was a rogue and big one to
boot. A rogue is an elephant that has been
driven from the herd for some misconduct OF
other, and he is generally mad wandering
about the country alone and doing all the
damage he can. His hand is against every
man and every mans hand is against him.
A rogue elephant is the only kind you can
shoot, as the elephants in herds are very
strictly preserved by the Ceylon govern
ment.
"Well, when this gentleman came out OF
the jingle he gazed about him for second or
two, and then, catching sight of me, raised
his trunk and gave trumpet that would have
made the angel Gabriel green with envy, and
then charged right at me. Now comes the
difficult part of notwithstanding. There is
only one vulnerable spot on Ceylon elephant,
and that is small oval spot, in size only a
few inches, just above the trunk. You might
fire a battery of gatlings at any other spot
and fail TO bring him down, and once I
counted eighteen bullet marks in an elephants
skull we killed, not one Of which had proba-
bly, given him more than slight headache.
When an elephant charges he raises his trunk
80 that il protects this vital spot, and at the
same time trumpets shrilly, hoping by this
means, no doubt, to scare the hunter. When
he is within about ten PAGES he lowers his
trunk and at the same time brings his head
down, after the manner of a bull when charg
ing. Now is the time TO fire, and God have
mercy on you il you miss, for the elephant
won't II is an anxious moment and for one
who was but a Griffin at the game il was
anything but pleasant. There was no friendly
tree near and there was but little chance o.
escape through the jungle if missed, as il
would require knife for me 10 cut through
the thick underground, while the elephant
could go through it like pack-thread-
WHEN THE EI.EPHA ANT CANE DOWN.
.On came the elephant the ground almost
shaking beneath his papderous tread. Would
he never lower that trunk, | stood with my
rife Mt the present as motionless as a statue.
and lust as he seemed TO be right on me,
down went the trunk Crack went my rife.
and had 10 spring back pace or two to
prevent the huge beast from coming right ON
top OF me as he fell stone dead at my feet
The reaction was great, my highly strung
nerves giving way when the elephant came
down as if cut with knife and the rife fell
from my shaking hands. | have learned bet
ter manners since. Soon Jack came up, and
we had a regular war dance round the car
cas-. The Niger was sent up the nearest
cocoanut. and we auaffed beaker to the
pleasant passage of Jumbo's soul to the ele-
plants heaven.
elephants are caught in what are known
as kraals. They are caught either for usp in
the public works department. for service in
the native temples, or for sale to some Euro
pean menagerie. When q kraal is TO lie
formed word is sent to the native headman OF
the village. near where the kraal is 10 be
built, and he in his turn, sends out hundreds
of heaters. When the herd to he operated on
is located. the heaters form a semi-circle and
begin driving the animals slowly toward
the kraal. AT night they build watch fires.
and between them the natives patrol, armed