The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-16
one OF MULVANEYS PETS.
An Elephant Like Those Mr.. Kipling
Tells About.

Sat Up All Night to be Up Early in
the Morning Thirteen Hours on the
Back Of an Enraged Elephant with a
Mahout-Through the Jungle at
Night with Hungry Jackals in Pur-
suit.
From the New York Times.
In December, 1872, the United States
steamship Lackawanna was lying OFF the
viceroy's landing at Calcutta. India. We
had on board the first American admiral
ever seen there. We We're entertained
not only viceregally but right royalty
Balls, dinners, parties, etc, of all kinds
were the order Of the day, and more par
ticularly of the night We had a con
tinuous stream Of visitors from early
morn to dewy eve. Jews and Gentiles,
natives and foreigners, barbarians, Scyth-
ians, bond and free, of all colors.
We entertained all corners to the best
Of our ability. The impression prevails
generally that the government pays the
expenses of entertaining visitors on its
war vessels, but this is not so. The officers
pay, out Of their own pockets, all ex-
penses incurred in this way.
We occasionally entertain CANCELS una
wares" One day two gentlemanly look
ing natives came on board, dressed in
European clothing ] happened to be the
one to show them about l took them
through all parts of the ship showed and
explained everything to them, and ended
by taking them into the wardroOm, and
blowing them OFF" after the most ap-
proved fashion The next day a native
messenger, arrayed gorgeously, came on
board, bearing a most formidable looking
Official document, addressed to me.
One of the young gentlemen who had
been on board was the nephew of the
Rajah of Burdwan. The rajah is one Of
the most powerful and wealthy native
princes. The document contained an in
vitation to visit his domains at Burdwan,
view his beautiful palace wonderful col
lection of wild animals, etc, and last. but
not least, to take ride on his famous
tiger-huuting elephants.
The invitation gave me carte blanche to
invite as many officers as l liked. [ invi-
ted all who could be spared from duty
We were to start the next morning very
early, going by rail, a distance, l believe,
of about 100 miles. As we were to start
early, we had "a protracted meeting"
not strictly on the Father Mathew order
The party was composed of the follow
ing named officers: Capt. S., DR.. b,
A4lCubS l., L., anu Il anu OJltIS WHOSE
names ! have forgotten We had a very
| pleasant trip on the cars, and saw more
| varieties of monkeys and other animals
| than we had ever before seen. While go
| ing through a wild section of country we
| saw great numbers of enormous monkeys
or apes. They were jumping from limb
| to limb of the trees.
Noticed the doctor (who, by the way.
had been the last to leave the table the
! night before) glance furtively at the mon
keys, then rub his eyes attempt to APP
pear Indifferent and then again look at
the monkeys. l pretended not to notice
them. Finally the doctor turned to me
and said: Did you ever see such mon
strOus mOnkeys"
'Where?" said I, looking straight at
them, "Oh! DOCTOR" | said, Il advise
you to knock off before il becomes ever
lastiugly too late"
He attempted to laugh, and said "Oh
you go long; l was only trying
to fool you, I know as well as you
do there were no monkeys there"
We arrived at Burdwan early in the
afternoon Here we were TO meet the ele-
plants. We waited more or less patiently
for about an hour, each taking his turn Of
going out Of the station 20 see if the eie-
plants We're coming. It happened TO be
my turn to go, so l went out on the road
to take a look. There they were sure
enough. never in the whole course of
my life saw such enormous animals 1
sang ont: "Great Scott, fellows! the
Himalayas are coming down on Usl"
They had just turned a corner in the
road, and with slow, majestic step were
approaching the station. One was d great
deal larger than the other, but the
smaller of the two greatly surpassed in
size any elephant 1 had ever seen. Each
elephant had a mahOu5 or driver astride
of his neck Both drivers were armed
with Misunderstanding weapon, having
a sharp spike set in the end at right an
giles to the handle.
Well, the next thing was to mount the
animals and get into the hOwdah. Only
the larger elephant had a howdah. The
other had sort Of padded blanket on
his back with loops to hold on by.
Cape. S, DR.. b., Lieut.. r., and myself
were to ride the elephant with the how
dab. The mahout Immediately began
pounding him on the head with the
above mentioned weapon until he was
brought to his knees. ] remember think
ing this a very cruel proceeding and pro
testing against it. I got over my sympa-
thy for the beast before we parted. The
blood followed each stroke.
Once on his knees, a ladder was placed
against mis- side and we were told to
mount as quickly as possible Capt. S.
NGLlu Ia ols liz SsCS dfSDA1 heAAA way up
when the elephant jumped to his feet, the
captain tumbling to the ground. This
was repeated several times before the
coptain landed safely in the howdah.
DR. B. kindly invited me to make the
next trial. I informed him that we
should so up according to rank. He gen
erously offered TO waive rank, after hay
ing seen Capt ). waving in the air, de-
clined with thanks.
The doctor tends slightly to emboupoint.
and his attempt at mounting the elephant
was siEhtnever to be forgotten. T he
animal just played horse" with him.
He must have risen to his feet i've or six
times before the doctor finally tumbled
meek and crop" into the howdah 1t
was now my turn. l of course mounted
nimbly, gracefully and successfully But
l must here cut short the details of
mounting. Suffice it to say, we all at last
accomplished the feat.
The smaller elephant was female and
had her calf with her. He was a funny
little fellow about five feet high and ae
mischievous as could be- We started O i
in great glee. little thinking what was in
store for Us and the experience we We're
to pass through. We were informed that
we would reach our destination in about
three hours. 1t was then about D. IN.
We passed through several little hamiets
and the manner in which the baby ele-
phant conducted himself was most anus
ing. He was more fun than a barrel of
10 nc in r,FI los