The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-07-13
ON AN ELEPHANT HUNT.
HOW TO BRING DOWN THE MONARCH
OF THE JUNGLE.

A Travellers story of the First One H..
kiiled-The Manner of Trapping the
Beast for showmen - Meeting the
Charge of Rogue"
The day shot my first elephant" said an
Old British Indian TO the reporter, "will al
ways be red letter day in my sporting cal
endar. II was in the island of Ccylon, that
pearl Of the Indian ocean | had started, in
company with a friend, from Trincomalce,
the British naval station of the SAND and
parhap: the finest harbor i'll the world, and
efter driving some forty miles into the inter
ior we left the handy and made tracks into
the jungle We We're both armed with ey-
press 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 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 un.
nistaliable signs that an elephant hal been
feeling 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 AID then we bad
to halt and wipe the perspiration from our
brows, and seEd a native shining up a
cocoanut tree for one of the young nuts, from
which we eagerly drank the nlilk, mixed with
just a leetle drop of Henncssey'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 Nv
friend Jack ?. Went round to one side while
remained on the other, and then we sent
heaters in at each end to drive the elephant
out. Suddenly heard cracking of brush
wood, then loud trumpet, and Jacks voice
shouting that the elephant bad turned and
was coming my way. | remembered well
wishing devoutly that he had gone in another
but had not much time for think
ing, as in minute or SO ont came the huge
brute. He was rogue and a 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
rogue elephant is the only kind You can
shoot, a. the elephants in herds are verv
strictly preserved by the Ceylon govern
ment
well, when this gentleman came out Of
the Jingle he gazed about him for a second or
two, and then, catching sight of me. raised |
bis trunk and gave a trumpet that would have |
made the angel Gabriel green wit envy, and |
then charged right at me Now comes the |
htticult part of clephapt-hooting. There IL |
only one vulnerable spot on a Cevlon elephant. |
and that is a small oval spot, in size only a |
few inches, Just above the trunk You might |
lire battery of gatllngs at any other spot |
md fail to bring him down. and once | |
counted eighteen bullet marks in an elephants |
skull we killed, not Que of which had proha- |
bly, given him more than a slight headache. |
When an elephant charges he raises his trunk |
10 that it protects this vital spot, and at the |
'ame time trumpets shrilly, hoping by this |
means, no doubt, to scare the hunter. When |
NJ is within about ten PAGES he lowers his |
iunk and at the same time brings his head
Town, after the manner of bull when charg
ng, 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 Griffin at the game it wa,
.nything but pleasant There was no friendly
rec near, and there was but little chance Of
'scape through the jungle if | missed, as it
would require a knife for me 10 cut through
he thick underground, while the elephant
ould so through it like pack thread