The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-03-08


the novelty of following big game had
not yet lost it's charms. My duties did
not occupy a great deal of my time,
and / could often be absent week or
ten days without serious inconvenience
to anyone. With couple of natives
and my old Henry" would set forth
on Mowcha, my elephant Mowcha
was an exceptionally fine specimen OF
his race, endowed with all it's virtues
and but few of its faults. He was
strong, patient, sagacious and devoted
to his master. He had never been used
as working elephant, but only for the
purposes of the chase. You should
have seen his unwieldy bulk making
its way noiselessly through the thick
jungle grass, his great feet lifted and
put down with the utmost caution, his
flexible trunk darting in all directions
to scent the game, and his small eyes
cleaning with excitement He seemed
to know instinctively the moment to
fire, and then he would not move a
muscle. You know it requires no small
amount of nerve to stand perfectly still
with a Bengal devil in a striped skin
charging at one, and too often it hap
pens that your well-directed shot is
spoiled by your elephants speedy re-
treat.
The natives deemed Mowcha super
human on account of his intelligence
and strength, and his mahout always
called him my Lord the Elephant"
and treated him with the greatest re-
spect. You know the Hindoo belief,
that the souls of ones ancestors have
to reside for a period after death in
the bodies of animals till they have
atoned for their shortcomings on earth;
and, lest they might unwittingly treat |
some of their grandfather or great |
grandfathers with disrespect, which |
would be criminal violation of their |
religion, it is their custom to give to |
each of the inmates of the Jungle a !
particular title, as, for instance, His |
Highness the Tiger. Our King the !
Lion, etc. So Mowcha was more often
addressed as My Lord the Elephant,
than by his real name.
He was great pet in the regiment,
and for the children at the station
there was no better sport than TO climb
into the howdah, shrieking with laugh
ter. and have ride on Mowcha. He
seemed to enjoy it as much as they did,
and carried his burden with the great
est dignity. He was really handsome,
as elephants go, and looked his best
when adorned with his scarlet trap
pings and harness, and bearing the
howdah filed with merry children; and
it was pretty sight to see them after
ward bestowing upon him his reward
In the shape of pineapples, bananas
and mangoes. all of which he loved to
stow away in his capacious stomach.
/ tell you these details thai you may
my grief when he suddenly
one night in early spring.
My Lord the Elephant had been rest
less for several days, his mahout in
formed me afterward, and that evening
he had managed to break his chain and
had vanished in the darkness. Whether
he had been spirited away by a clever
thief. or had decided that he had
worked for man long enough and would ,
low return to his native woods and the ,
'ociety of his kind, we never knew, of ,
course, but we missed him more than
me would think, and for some time the ,
ny among the children was: ''If Now {
,ha were only herer' ,
tried number of other elephants {
or my hunting, but could not fill his {
place; and, as my duties increased I
bout that time, my gun rarely left its q
,ase, and my cartridge belt hung, un- s
used, on the wall a
About three or four years later was '
invited to spend the Christmas holidays 9