The Dickinson press., 1891-01-17
AN ELEPHANT HUNT IN SIAM.
A Country Where. Nearly 800 of the Zig
Animals Arc Capturcd Mt y Time.

"A country Nherc. Nearly 3Oo OF the l.iS
Animals Arc Captured at . Time.
One scorching morning in April, 1870,
a small party of Europeans l~f5 :,,le city
Of Bangkok, the present capital of the
kingdom of Siam, for Ayuthia, the Old
seat Of government, sixty miles north
ward up the River Menam. y hunt EsA
been appointed by the king, and tha elc-
plants were to be brought in tHc2Hgh
the country bordering the ancient ruins.
On the second day we arrived at
Ayutlia, and set up Il screens and
hung our mosquito bars lii a saia. Or rest
house, by the river side.
The following Glorning the elephants
arrived. just outside the city, and over
looking Il plain ~extealias 10 the horizon,
was a high platform, mounted by stone
steps and covered With Il tiled roof sap
ported by pillars. On this. screened
from the sun, and with il broad outlook
over the rice fields that had lately been
shorn OF their crop, sat IL high official,
his aids, II few native mobiles and the
foreign guests.
The other spectators perctied i'll trees
or found standing room wherever the
view was most attractive. Immediately
before the platform was the stockale.
made by setting deep into the ground
teak logs two yards in girth and twenty
feet in length. These logs We're so III
ranged as to leave intcrspaces Of about
III foot in width. They incloscd Il half
acre of level ground, and extended out,
at the side opposite the platform, into
a funnel shaped entrance only wide
enough, whcreit Joined the atockade, for
the passing of il single elephant,
Gazing far across tho st,bbly plain
we saw tho troop of elephants, cncom-
passed by the many hunters who had
been sent months before into the wilder
ness to entice the wild animals toward Il
rendezvous. The families, scattered III
the jungles, foraging among the luNuri-
ant heritage, had been separately entered
by tame dccoy elephants, under the di-
rection of willy hunters. and one had fol-
lowed anothcrinto captivity. Two hun
bred and eighty elephants had thus been
brought together. The sound OF thci1
roaring was like that Of distant thunder.
and rs they approached the earth seemed
to shake under their tread.
BY a skillful combination of leading
and driving they were slowly urged
along toward the stoclale. Foremost
were the %decoycrs, trained to their Work.
which they do with complacent discre-
ton. They were ridden by experts in
elephant training, and followed Ivy the
wild herds in which We're elephants OF
all ages. Hemming il I t~4se:nolage
on the sides and in the rss,f. many other
tanned elephants directed by their riders
urged on the ~layysarJs with tl:vir long
tusks and shoulderel the ~stragsyler5 into
place.
Occasionally Il huge fellow. becoming
conscious of being directed by Il will not
his own, would rear, trumpet IL protest,
bolt through the Gordon Of seEtinels and
gallop toward the distant woods. But
these fugitives were quickly chased by
three OF four trained beasts, and were
soon brought back to the ranks. Only
one, a majestic creature with cnor:lo:,s
snowy @taslSs, distanced his ruisAlers and
regained freedom in the busih,-sst. Mich
pJnv