Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-06-08
SUCKED DEAD BY LEECHEs.


Assam is the land Of the leeches.
Swamp and jungle, rivers and pools, and
even the cultivated fields literally swarm
with blood suckers; and woe 'betide the
man or animal that falls a helpless prey
TO them. Instances Of unfortunate men
and beasts having fallen faint or wounded
in out-of.the-way places in Assam and
being fastened upon by the leech swarms
and sucked 10 death are common enough.
The creatures get into the nostrils Of cat.
tie out grazing, or settle on tender parts
Of their skin, driving them mad. Leech
sores are common complaints among both
European and natives in Assam. In fact
the country is leech ridden, as will be
seen from the awful fate of Mahout
Nour Khan and his elephant Sphinx.
Nour Khan took his elephant out as
usual one day to the jungles beyond Co
laghat to collect fodder. That evening
however, neither Nour Khan nor his ele-
| plant were present at the usual elephant
muster; so il was conjectured that some
mishap had b%efallen them, and a search
party wa sen out TO scour the country,
but the search was fruitless. Three days
passed, and still no tidings; it was
thought that both mahout and elephant
had got drowned in the River Dhunsiri
On the third evening, however, one Of
the search party came running up to my
bungalow saying he had found Nour
Khan and his elephant, and he implored
me to come with him and bring some
dawa (medicinel as he was afraid there
4 ~ a LITTLE 1Ifn i'm nith1r IN nr Inaat
Thinking that brandy would be the best
medicine under the circumstances |
mounted my pony and galIoped down TO
the planters stores and got q bottle.
Meanwhile ] told the mar who found
Nour Khan to make for q certain rem
devious, where | would Join him.
Never shall l forget the sight that
presented itself when we came upon
the lost mahout and his charge. There
they lay in the bed of q small "nullah"
or drain-the elephant stuck fast in the
treacherous mud and literally covered
with leecbes, al more or less charged
with blood. The surface OF the elephant
presented the appearance of a large heap
Of ripe plums, the leeches having gorged
themselves into a rotund shape; and
there they stuck, a quiyering mass. The
elephant still continued to breathe, and
move his leech-covered trunk about in a
helpless way, which indicated plainly
that he was in a very weak state indeed.
| noticed these things as | approached,
but so far the mahout was concealed
from view. We found Nour Kahn with
his legs wedged in the mud and held
there under the heavy weight OF his
elephants h~ead-dead. Poor Nour
Kahn's corpse showed traces of numerous
leech bites, The leeches, however, had
left his cold dead body for the warm
blood feast from the elephant. We ex-
tricated Nour Kahn's remains as best we
could and sent them to be buried in the
Mohammedan graveyard at Golaghat.
The elephant was still alive, and the
difficulty was to get its huge carcass out
Of the mire. | sent for a number Of
coolies, and these were set to work to
cut down tree branches to make a firm
footing in the river bed. Meanwhile we
gave the animal some bread to eat soaked
in brandy. This revived him somewhat,
80 that when the mud was dug away
from his sides he managed, with the as
sistance of a number Of coolies, to get
on his feet, and SO crawl on the tree
branches out on to the open. 1t was a
sight 10 see this huge beast, with one side
smeared with white mud and the other
covered with gorged leeches. A bag of
salt was soon forthcoming, and after a
quantity was scattered over the clinging
leeches they 0 o relaxed their grip and
fell in heaps on the grass. More salt
sprinkled on their bloated carcasses
caused them to vomit their gorge of
blood. Presently they crawled away TO
die, for leeches never recover after the
saline treatment. had the curiosity to
weigh one Of these blood gorged Great
ures, and it turned the scale at half an
ounce. Roughly, q thousand leeches
had stuck to Sphinx; and allowing ff-
teen pounds as the net weight of the
leeches, they must have drawn at least
sixteen pounds of blood from the ami
NAL. Was it any wonder, then, if poor
Sphinx died in a few days from the
effects Of his exposure and blood letting?
1t is somewhat amusing, says q London
correspondent, TO notice the solicitude
with which newcomers in Assam take
of their lower limbs by encasing them in
leather. recollect an Indian COM
mander-in chief and staff on tour in
Assam once and they reminded one of
Cromwelrs cavalry from the size and
weight of their leather boots. In spite
Of this the leeches found them out. and
even an Indian cemmander-in in. chief could
not command the reptile hordes. If his
excellency and staff had had the fore
thought to have their feathers sailed, or
even carried q little salt in their coat
pockets they would have gone through
| Assam unframed by leech bites. | should
advise every visitor OF intending visitor
to Assam to carry with him the neces.
sary salt bag and IL he does 30 he need
not fear the leeches.