The record-union., 1891-03-13
HUNTING STORIES.
Four That Are Not at All of a
Kind, But Are Good.
Some Old Hunters Spin Yarns That
Are True = Hunting Elephants :
Hunting Human Heads = Hunting
Mad Notwithstanding Men to XIII
Them.

Them.
'There are few more thrilling sights"
said one of the veteran sportsmen at the
campfire, than an elephant fight. I
don't mean fight with an elephant,
though that may be pretty thrilling to
you, if you wound the brute without dis
abling him, and he gets after you in the
open. But / mean fight between ele-
phants.''
81 didn't know they ever fought" in
terrupted a novice in the jungle.
You would know it, if you ever saw
two 'tuskers' fairly at it, was the reply.
''They don't often do it; but when they
do, it is a battle to the death. One day, up
in the hill country, / saw such combat.
They Were hard at it when 1 came in
sight. They were on the hillside One
OF them, a burly, stout-built beast with
short, powerful tusks, was evidently get
ting much the worse of the scrimmage
and the white and red burrows in his
sides plainly indicated seams made by
his antagonists tuSkS. Blood was trick
ling down his head and shoulders. On
the rise of the hill was his enemy. q still
larger animal, possessing the advantage
of longer tuSks. 1t was u lost fight In q
"
at the other, made a good thrust at the
side. There was q severe struggle, but
the tusll went its full length into the now
beaten brute, and using all his weight the
victor pressed him down the hill, where
they disengaged themselves and pre-
pared for another bout. The wounded
tus<er'S roarS OF pain were pitiful TO
hear. He turned tail and sought safety
III flight. But the other kept close be-
hind and gave him thrust after thrust,
but not in any vital part. Pretty soon
they wheeled around, raced, and came
together with mighty smash. This was
about the only stand made, and the
beaten brute was quickly oVerpowered
by the more powerful and fresher victor.
The thrusts now put behind the shoulder
and into the body quickly disabled the
poor brute, and in fact in a few minutes
the combat was over. The conqueror
with one rush completely rolled his
enemy over, and by repeated thrusts into
the PROSTATE form finished the fight amid
meanings and trumpeting.
81 got some men and went out next
morning to look for the body and get the
tusks. We found big herd of elephants
in an excited state almost on the SPOT
where the finish had occurred. In it
were several small tuskers, besides the
big cOnqueror Of the evening before, who
seemed TO inStil great deal of fear into
the youngsters. He came out into the
open glade with fine young female, and
as he approached there was a general
stampede out Of his way. We came on
the dead beast, which had been butted
and rolled after it was killed into a clump
of bambooS. 1t had been q fine, burly
animal, but was marked from forehead
to rear and top to foot by rips and cuts.
He measured nine feet six inches at the
shoulder, and the tusks proved slightly
over lCO pounds the pair. The victor,
which in the ghtappeared to tower over
his foe, must have been quite ten feet
high, and had the longest tusks I have
ever seen clear of their sockets. | tried
to get him, but what with his harem
about him and the difficulty OF getting a
clear view in the long grass 1 failed to get
a shot"
BUFFALO HUNTING.
''I don't know, though" said an old
hunter who had been in Africa, 'but that
l would rather take my chances with an
elephant than with Il real mad buffalo.
There is no more savage brute, and none
more lndomitable and persistent in his
wrath. 1t IS not that they are Swifter or
stronger, or that their horns are more
deadly weapon; but they display peril
nacity of spite which makes them ex-
ceeding!y formidable. Let a lion miss
his first spring and he will turn away
unless rayenously hungry-in disap-
pointment and disgust from his intended
victim. Let a rhinoceros be wounded
and, unless hemmed in by foes he will
make for the water. But the wounded
buffalo sticks to his enemy, and has
been known to watch under a tree for
days in the hope of securing his revenge
upon the hunter who had climbed rlI it
TO escape his fury. The natives have a
special plan of their own for capturing
them. They used to select the special
bull they wanted to Kill and entice or
drive it from its companions. Two or
three OF them would engage the animufs
attention in front, leaping nimbly TO one
side to avoid his furious charges, while
another hunter undertook the risky Job
of creeping up behind and hamstrineing
the beast. They were generally success
tul, but many lives We're lost every year
in buffalo hunting, and the natives them
selves consider it the most dangerous
quadruped in the forest"
HEAD HUNTING.
sBut you must go up through the Shan
country, " said a soldier Of the British
Burmah army, ito find the greatest hunt
ing in the word. Go up to Laval
What do they hunt up there?"
Heads
''What kind of heads?''
Human heads, to be sure. They want
: ihem to drive the devil away In every
Lava village there must be skull for
every house They are stuck on posts
along the roadside, and cheerful-looking
avenue they make. They organize head
hunting raids every year. Whenever a
lava man meets stranger, especially
near his own village. he goes for his head
Ii he filled to do Sc, his neighbors would
go for his head when he get home again.
They would regard him as lacking in
public spirit and enterprise. If there is
an unusual dearth of other peoples heads,
or new village has To be protected at
any cost, the wild LawaS do not hesitate
to cut Oft the heads of fhe tarnO Tawas
Peaceful traders who penetrate elsewhere
with their merchandise give wide berth
when they approach the Lava country
Still | must say that apart from this one
weakness for head-collectiug, the Lawas
are said to be an industrious, hard work.
ing honest, race, and very seldom steal
anything, even when they have cut of
the heads of everybody in q village And
they only cut off heads, as / have said, TO
protect themselves from evil spirits"
MAN HUNTING.
Even that is scarcely as bad,v said
another, 'tas the bloody feuds thew have in
the Afridi country. There was one man
there, named Faiz Taiab Khan who won
the hatred of certain chieftains. who
planned his murder. A man named Mu-
hamad Var, a Nasiri Ghilzai, who had
murdered some nineteen twenty per-
sons by treschery, was found willing to
undertake the business if he was paid the
sum of 1,l00 rupees and a shawl. This
being agreed TO, he left the Jelallabad
Valley and started for the Khyber. A
friend of FaiZ Talab Khan'S, being in
formed OF the plot, wrote to him and gave
ali details as to the appearance of the man
who had consented to murder him for a
9 ~ nfsgD