Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-10-09
A BATTLE OF GIANTS.
A FIERCE COMBAT BETWEEN
ELEPHANTS IN AN ARENA.


His reception Of foreigners is always
courteous, and for distinguished guests
he frequently offers amusement in the
way of an elephant fight. A combat OF
snch novel character attracts vast
concourse Of even those who are familiar
with it.
The male elephants are selected, and
for time before the contest are fed ON
sugar and butter. The arena in which
the huge animals meet is in the form of
a vast parallelogram, about 800 yards
long by 200 wide. 1t is entirely sur
rounded by thick walls; great number
of narrow doors allow Of entrance or
exit to the attendants, without permit
ting the elephant to follow them.
The SUBMITS of the walls are provided /
with balconies, open to the public. The
roofs of the neighboring houses, even
the trees, are covered with motley and,
as usual, noisy crowd. On an elevated
mound are placed the female elephants,
and these, it appears, have decided
taste for such sights.
In the arena itself are the two males,
each chained to one of the extremities,
expressing their wrath by trumpetings,
and fiercely digging their tuslxs into the
sand. BY instinct the elephant always
recognizes his mahout, or driver, and
allows him to approach.
Gracefully formed young men are
walking about in groups. These are the
satinari-wallahs. who play the same
part here as the toreadors at bull-fights
in Spain, and who may be called g ele-
phantadors" They wear nothing but a
light, colored turban and scanty, tight
fitting pair of trousers, which give the
elephant nothing TO lay hold of. The
most active carry only horsewhip and a
veil of rcd silk; others are armed with
long lances; and, lastly, a small number
have only fuse fastened to the end OF
stick and a lighted match.
These last have the least snowy, but
the most important functions to perform.
They must pose themselves at different
points of the arena and run to the rescue
of the elephantador when in danger.
Rushing in front of the infuriated ami
NAL, they flash their fuses in his face,
when he recoils in terror, and they Sue
cor the wounded.
But they are not allowed to have re
course to this stratagem unless there Is
real danger. If they make mistake
they are reprimanded. They are all Sc
lected from among the handsomest and
best-made men that can be procured,
and are endowed with wonderful agility
When all is ready signal is given
and the arena cleared. Each mahout
seats himself on the neck of the ele
phant, the chains are cast loose, and the
two animals are in full view. After an
instant's hesitation they approach each
other with their trunks raiseo and trump
citing tiercely; their pace increases and
they meet in the centre of the arena.
Their foreheads strike together,
and the violence of the shock is
so great that their fore feet give way,
and they remain leaning against each
other.
They wrestle with their trunks, which
they entwine like arms, and the mahouts
have sometimes to defend themselves
with their goads. For some minutes the
elephants remain head to head, until one
of them, finding himself gradually grow
ing weak, feels that he is going to be
conquered 1t is critical moment, for
the creature well knows that in taking
fight he must present his flank to the
enemy, who May pierce him with his
tusks or throw him prostrate. The
worsted one, therefore, summoning up
all his strength, pushes his adversary
back by one desperate thrust and takes
fight.
The combat is decided; shouts re-echo
on all sides, and the spectators are occu-
pied more with their wagers than with
the elephants. The vanquished one has
now to be taken away and the field left
free to the conqueror.
A party Of men come with great iron
pinccrs, indenred, with long handles
united by spring. They skillfully fix
pair on one Of the hind legs of the ele-
phant, where, through the operation of
the spring, they remain tight. The long
handles get entangled with the other
three legs, and as the teeth of the pin
GERS at every step bite little, the ele-
phant stops short. He is Immediately
bound with chains. The vanquished
one is led out, while the victor remains.
The second act is combat between
the winning beast and o troop Of men.
Fuse bearers and elephantadors rush in
to the arena from all sides, fairly paralyz-
inc the elephant at first with astonish-
ment. But under the pricking Of lances,
the blows of whips and the
Haunting of red banners in its face,
it soon becomes infuriated, and rushes
wildly upon the tormentors. The latter
succeed for time in escaping the on
sIaught by jumping to one side and dodg-
ing about, but sooner or later the ele-
phant will catch one with his trunk and
dash him TO the ground. It is then the
; fuse bearers duty to rush up, and, be-
for the elephant can crush its victim by
treading or kneeling on him, it is fright
ened away by the fierce flames dashed in
its face.
This ends the struggle with the foot
men, and q mounted antagonist for the
elephant rides in. This is the most att
tractive point Of the combat. The horse
is trained and obeys the riler implicitly,
only moving enough to just escape the
elephants rushes. The rider attacks the
enormous beast with his lance, sometimes
in front, sometimes in flank, driving him
into paroxysm of rage. But even at
this moment the elephant displays his ex-
traordinary intelligence. Pretending to
take no notice Of the horseman, he allows
I Him to approach behind, and suddenly