The herald., 1895-11-10
A TALLYHO JAUNT IN BRITISH INDIA

familiarizing ourselves with the big fell
lows dimensions, habits, line of thought
and other characteristics. So it follows
that mons nee Is 10 be told much about
the elephant as he stands on four feet
tossing hay in the cage of a geological
garden. but what are always welcome are
good stories about the creature of long
and classic history, and real pictures of
his life in the lands where he is both
king and slave, the subject OF many
piece OF heather sculpture and the victim
of the rapcious hunter in the jungle
haunts of Africa, India and CeyIon.
The manner of elephant hunting has
often been written of, and need not be at
length retold here. Suffice it to remind
the reader that with tame eleph ants de-
ployed in the great forest haunts OF the
gradually concentrated, corralled and
sunjugated to the beck and call of men.
1t is Titanic sport. as one may we'll see,
and almost worth q trip to elephant land
to enjoy. The pictures illustrating
Sir Elephant common carrier portray
the function with which We who know
him only in the circus parade are most
familiar. His trappings and equipments
in the home of the rajahs and the resorts
Of wealthy tourists. however, are of a
quality that we do not see often matched
in the case of the itineranJ elephant of
proportionats interest as displayed in the
instructive illustrations on this page.
The splendid old fello v, caparisoned with
capacous saddle and canopy, and con-
trolled by two attendants, is a mahara-
jah's own. A capital glimpse OF eiephan-
tine manner.of-factness in Ceylon you
may see in the picture illustrating the
big fellow complacently enjoying a way
sine bath, while not only his driver but
apparently European rider as WE'LL are
having dip IN the CONVEX lent stream.
But what is CeyIon, this far-away land,
whore his elrphnntine majesty seems to
be taking so comfortable q bath? 1t is
Great BrItuin's pearl of India" divided
from the continent by fifty miles of
water. itself three times the rize of Massa.
chusstts, has an area of $4,000 square
miles and q shore line of 700 miles. 1t
crown colonies of the British empire,
though as whole it Is perhaps tue
most thinly inhabited spot in the orient.
1t Is a mystic land of buried Cities" in
the interior, one Of which, legend says,
con tanned 3.U0OOO0 people, not much
lation today. Ceylon's capital is Colom-
DO. One-sixth of the island is noun
famous. Its jungles, alive with wild
animals, are the madness of the sports
man. But OF CeylOn, another time. The
elephant is now the theme, and, while we
are talking of Ccvlon, the Ceylon ale
plant himself. Between 1877 and 1862,
1900 swild Ceylon elephants were shared,
partly tanned and taken to India. To get
these their hunters killed more than 200
others. at one time the English author
tiles paid reward for the tails of dead
elephants-10 shiIiings for eacn tail.
The big fellows were destroying rice fields
at harvest time. Now, like our own wild
game, familiar with the sound of gun
and knowing what it means, the Ceylon
wild elephant rusnes to almost inaccessi-
BILE retreats in impossible jungles. When
age or wounds threaten death tney re.
re, hiae themselves and await the end,
Back IN the 40's there was an English
man named Major Rogers, of the CeyIon
rifles. who devastated the elephant tribe
as with O pestilsnce. OF him 1t is said
that about 1900 fell before his gun. He
was not butcher in the modern snort.
ing sense, however, because the herds of
wild elephants at that time were terribly
destructive, and so it came about that
many a man could count 100 elephants as
the victim of his own bullets. Nowadays
it is either a license or q heavy fine that
Is checking the exssrmination of these
form idxble but useful brutss.
The circus elephant seems q passive
oeast and kindly, too; the wild one Is the
wariest and most cunning OF all the crea-
lures of the forest. At bay the elephant
IS q terror. With harness on his gu blu
gated neck he can pull half dozen teams
of native bullocks all around the field. He
can pillow and harrow with a score of the
beasts. Sagacious. too, Is be. a. many
worries tell. Teach him to handle lumber
end he is y bridge builder all BY himself.