The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-10-29

HOW TO BRING DOWN The MONARCH
CFTdE JUNGLE

4 Travellers story Of the first one H'
KiIIsd-The Manner of Trapping the
Beast for shovnen - Meeting this
Charge Of a Rogue"
The day shot my first elephant, said an
old British Indian 70 the reporter, will al
ways be a red letter day in my sporting cal
endar. II was IN the island Of CeylOn, that
pearl Of the Indian ocean. l had started, in
. company with a friend, from TTincOmalee
the British naval station Of the island and
perhaps the finest harbor in the world, and
. after driving some forty miles into the inter
" iOr we left the handy and made tracks into
the Jungle We were both armed with ex-
press rifles, which in my opinion are by far
the best weapons for elephant shooting, and
VIC were in hopes that ere long we would
come on the trail of the ami nor were we
disappointed, for shortly our attention was
drawn by the native guides to the young BAN
bOos on the side of the path, which bore IN
mistakable signs that elephant had been
feeding there. Soon We came on further evil
dence of his presence, and on we went, our
eyes OH the ground, toiiing through the jungle
after the elephant. And, oh, the heatl 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
just leetle drop of Hennessey's three star
from our TASKS
on THE TRAIL OF SIR JUMBO.
1--WE were hours tOiling after that brute,
and thought that we would never come up to
him At last the trail lead right into a sort
of oasis Of patna, or grass land, in the middle
of which there was island or Jungle The
trail went straight into this, so that we were
sure that we had Sir Jumbo at last My
l., = 7
remained on the other, and then we sent
heaters iii at each end to drive the elephant
out. Suddenly I heard a cracking of brush
wood, then lOgd trumpet, and Jacks voice
shouting that the elephant had turned and
was coming my way. l remembered well
wishing devoutly that he had gone in another
direction, but I had not much time for think
ing, as in minute out came the huge
brute. He a rogue and a big one to
boot. A rogue is an elephant that has been
driven from the herd for some misconduct or
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.
"WeI, when this gentleman came out Of
the Jingle he gazed about him for a second or
two and then, catching sight of me, raised
his trunk and gave a trumpet that would have
made the angel Gabriel green with envy, and
then charged right at me. Now comes the
difficult part of elephant shooting. There is
only one vulnerable spot on CeylOn elephant,
and that is a small oval spot, in size only
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 l
counted eighteen bullet marks in an elephants
skull We killed, not one of which had proba-
bly, given him more than a slight headache
When an elephant charges he raises his trunk
so that it protects this vital spot, and at the
same time trumpets Shriuy, 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 bull when charg-
ing. Now is the time to fire, and God have
mercy on you if you miss, for the elephant
won't. 1t is an anxious moment, and for one
who was but a Griffin at the game it was
anything but pleasant There was no friendly
tree near and there was but little chance of
escape through the jungle if l missed, as it
would require a knife for me to cut through
the thick underground, while the elephant
could go through it like pack-thread.
WHEN THE ELEPHANT CAME DOWN
shaking beneath his pOnderous tread. Would
he never lower that trunka l stood with my
rife at the present mOtiOnleSs as a statue,
and Just as he seemed to be right on me,
down went the trunk Crack! went my rife,
and had to spring back a pace or
prevent the huge beast FINE Con- - 'Wo 10
top OF me as he f stone ,', dead sJ at nv feet OF
Gacuon was great, my highly strung
. nerves giving way when the elephant came
down M If cut with a knife, and the rifle 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
cass The 'DiggeU' sent up the nearest
cocoanut, and we quatfed a beaker to the
pleasant passage of Jumbo's soul TO the ele-
plants heaven.
Elephants are caught in what are known
rs l,raals They caught either for use in
the public works department, for service in
the native temples or for sale 10 some Euro
peau mcunEorie. When a krHal IS to he
formed word II sent TO the native hoadmau Of
the village near where the kraal is 60 be
built and he, in his turn, sends ont hundreds
of heaters When the herd To be operated on
IS located, the bcators form a Scui-CirCle and
begin driving the animals slowly toward
the lSraal AZ night they build watch fires,
and between them the natives patrol armed
with white wauds. which are quite sufficient
10 keep the elephants from breaking through.
They gradually work them up toward the
kraal which Is an open space IN the jungle,
with some stout trees growing within it. Il
is surrounded 10y strong stoCkade and has
only a narrow entrance. Into this the herd
Is driven.
THE herd Is generally lct 10y an old bull
elephant, and before any attempt 70 capture
an elephant Is made this old gentleman must
he shot The hull got rid OF, the next thing
to do Is 70 send in two tame elephants, with
their mahouts. who single ont the elephant 70
loo captured The tame ones thou 'sCuddle
M. ono ON zach side, aud profess great friend
ship for their Wild companion gradually
pressing him or her closer and closer until
they have him fast Then "a native slips in
underneath aud quickly makes ropes fast TO
the wild one. legs. and he Is dragged by the
tamC elephants 10 the nearest tree, where,
after being thrown 10 the ground. he Is
securely bound and left there 10 stsrve for
two or three days He Is then quite tame,
and when he visc> mp he Is no longer mon
arch Of the forest but elephant No. 9l9 81
the public vNyjo, department or the great
Jumbo Of "a travelling circus. '--C hicaEo
Herald