The Opelousas courier., 1893-08-05
CAPTURING WILD ANIMALS
MEN WHO MAKE THIS A REe17r.Ap
BUSINESS.

HERE are men who make q
regular business of catching
animals, rearing and training
Q them and disposing of themto
whoever will buy. These men send
out special messengers to the hunting
grounds IN Africa and elsewhere, They
take with them a lot of small coin to
distribute among the natives. In Nubia
q very little money will 60 q long vay
On the arrival of the messenger the
Aaurl negroes form themselves into
companies, go out to the neighborine
deserts and there dispense in search Of
a young lions. In order to find the
oen n which they are succored and
nourlshed the Kauri aim is to find the
spoor or trail of the mother lioness.
As she gees in and out of her lair she
gradually makes a beaten track which
1t is not difficult to detect. It is not
often that than one hunter hap
pens upon the same spoor, however, as
they are comparatively few and far be-
tween. -
Having made his discovery, the hun
ter creeps slowly and cautiously along
tho bushes. He carries a bundle of
assegais or javelins under his arm. AT
last he reaches the neighborhood of
the lair. The lioness scents his ap.
proach and starts up with an awful
growl. But she is too late. Before she
she can spring, even before she has
caught full sight of the intruder, the
assegais, whirled with unerring aim,
have penetrated her body. She falls
to the ground, gasping, dead. The lit
tie lion whelps are too weak and small
to offer any defense the cruel-looking
fangs, the terrible claws are only Just
beginning to bud. They are gathered
up by the hunter, who takes them back
to his zereba. There they are brought
up on the milk of goats. The little
ones grow very fond of their foster
mothers, and jump and play around
them quite as if it were a family party.
Young tigers are obtained in the
same way as lions. But leopards and
hyenas are Frequently caughtful grown.
They endure captivity a great deal
better than other members of the cat
family and, being less heavy and pow
erful, are more readily managed even
in their most ferocious moods. In or
der to catch them huge traps are set.
Sometimes these traps are made out of
wood, sometimes they are cut out of
the solid rock. They act much on the
principle of the common mouse trap
that is, they have a hanging door in
front of the entrance which is raised
by a lever held down by a baited hook.
The bait consists of meat. The ami.
NAL comes in and seizes the bait, the
lever flies up. the door shuts down
upon him and he is held fast. Once
trapped, the hunters, after a fierce,
struggle, tie his legs together, muzzle
zereba.
Sometimes q great hunt is got up
and then everything which ZONES in
the way of the Kauri negroes is fair
game for slaughter, while all the lairs
that are discovered, whatever the
parent animal may be, are relieved OF
their young, and the young become
the property of the European messen-
ger who gets up the hunt.
A great party II negroes, armed
with assegais and Bng hunting swords,
or sometimes ever with guns, collect
together. Men mounted on fast
horses go ahead to find the game.
When they have come across any large
animal, such as a rhinoceros, an ele-
plant or q giraffe, they give a signal.
The hunters gradually close around the
animal in a circle and assail him on all
sides with assegais or gun shots. But
the game does not die without a strug
gle. Elephants especially are often
very dangeroes and turning upon their
hunters with wild rage may kill OF
wound several of them if they do not
turn and run.
Wild elephants are often captured
in large quantities by O very simple
method, especia1A by the natives OF
Burmah and Ceylon. First an inclo-
Esure called a keddah, or corral, is
formed by fencing in a large space Of
ground with the trunks and branches
of trees. On one side only is there an
opening. Tt is the aim of the hunters
to drive the wild elephants through
this opening into the inclosure. But
this can be done only by the aid OF
thousands of heaters, who make an e1-
tensiye circuit around the haunts OF
the elephant. Gradually but surely
they narrow the circle, driving the
animals before them, until a compare.
lively small area is completely sur
rounded by the heaters with the
hunted animals in the midst. At last,
the beatsrs with a general rush, scream.
ing at the top of their voices and
brandishing lighted torches in their
hands, close in upon the elephants.
The affrighted creatures, seeing nc
way clear except in the direction Of
the corral, make for itwith all speed
and enter the opening. Once they are
inside the entrance is b~arrleaded. Ihe
entrapped animals rush wildly about
in the vain hope of finding a means O.
escape. At last, completely exhausted.
they huddle together in THE centre o.
the corral, and there await motlonlesi
the progress of events. A number o
tame elephants, each mounted by
keener with another man following on
foot. are then ridden into the lncio.
sure. Mingling freely with the Wlio
elephants the tame ones put then on
their guard, and thus an opportunity
is given to the attendant on foot 90
lass the moose of a rope around eaef