The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-10
HUGE GAME IN SIAM.
FIFTEEN ELEPHANTS RAGGED IN
ONE DRIVE BY AN AMERICAN.

FIFTEEN ELEPHANTS RAGGED IN
ONE DRIVE BY An AMERICAN.
Sport With the Tuskers-A Business
Venture in Hunting which Breaks
the RecOrd-NOveI Trap for the
Mammoth Drutes and Novel Means
for Getting Them Subdued.
Charles Mayer in Chicago Inter Ocean.
Any persca wishing to travel in the in
terror of Siam. whether for pleasure, hunt
ing, or trading, must obtain a passport
from the minister of the Interior of Siam,
for projections sake and also to enable
him to pass through the tributary states.
Without a passport such journey is dan
gerous to attempt, but a passport insures
respect, assistance, and hospitality from
the native sultans. Having obtained my
passport to travel through Siam for the
purpose of hunting, trapping and trading
in wild animals, 1 left Singapore about
the middle of May, 1897, for state called
Tringganu. in Lower Siam, $50 miles north
the capital of Siam.
Having got together and picked out my
principal hunters, and this was their first
attempt at catching elephants my the hero,
as they had always killed them before or
caught them in pits, under the protection
of the sultan and the prime minister,
started for a place called Marang, forty.
five miles further inland, where | was
told elephants were wont to travel, ana
where the hay of the country was favora-
BILE to the construction of a corral or trap
The nephew of the sultan was with me
with an order from his uncle to call out
and collect as many men as 1 might re-
quire 10 assist me in the enterprise. AS
we passed through each village each chief,
or as he is called, pougala, had to receive
us, pay his respects, etc, and see to our
comfort, and send on to Marang ten men,
who had to give their time and work to
us for three weeks. They were then all
lowed to go back to their village, after the
chief had sent ten more men in their
place. In this way I had no trouble so
far as men were concerned.
I started fifty men out to locate and
track the elephants, with strict orders not
to lose sight of them, and to send me daily
reports as to their movements. When the
elephants had been loca ted / sent up 100
more men to surround them. The herd
was reported to be thirty strong, including
eight tuskers or bulls, and some small
ones. Then came the construction of the
trap Those who have never seen one can
form but little idea of the labor involved
in setting up a trap TO Withstand not the
impact of one or TWO of these huge ami
mails, but the shock of thirty at once, if
necessary. Trees varying from a foot to
thirty inches in diameter have TO be cut
down to supply logs eighteen or twenty
feet long These are sunk into the ground
five TO six feet deep and at intervals of a
foot apart The logs at the top center
and bottom are braced together and the
fence is buttressed from the outside A
platform is built all around the trap prop
or, upon which men can run and with long
poles having sharp spikes at the end can
Illustrate any attempt of the animals to
rush or pull down the palisade. 1t took me
nearly one month TO get the trap con-
strueted. The trap was circular in shape,
with single entrance, and from each side
of the entrance wing 1900 feet long ex-
tended. Every post of the wings and the
inside of the trap had to be covered with
leaves and foliage so as to give it as nat
ural an appearance as possible, and every
trace of man had To be removed and the
spaces left by the cutting down of the
trees filed i'm.
When the trap was ready for work I sent
up 100 more men to join the others and
slowly drive the elephants toward the trap.
/ started myself with fifty more men. cut
ting across the country, and twenty miles
from the trap ! came upon the rear of the
herd. l had fully 300 men under me. They
were distributed in The rear of the herd in
the shape of the letter ~ the points of
which were fully half mile apart The
men were about fifty or seventy-fve yards
apart from one another and all were di-
rected by signals given on big gongs. Each
man had either an old gun or a tom-tom.
and when he heard the crashing of the
elephants coming in his direction he made
all the noise possible. The elephants would
then go back.
AS the driving was all done by night the
elephants being left ia peace during the
day, il took us two weeks to get them IN
The trap. No persons who has not had the
same experience or has not hunted the
elephant, not for the purpose of killing.
but OF taking alive, knows the danger and
risk OF such an undertaking In the Jun
gle AT any moment the elephants are
liable TO turn on you and charge-not one.
but herd of wild elephants. One nigh
during the drive we had a severe thunder
storm, and the elephants, getting alarm
ed at something, charged back in body.
Four men were killed by being tramp,ed
on and half the herd got away. We shot
and killed two large bulls, or tuskers. ono
eight feet the other eight ana three-ntlar-
ters feet tall, with tusks two and two and
a half feet long. This incident put us
back fully week, as We had to spread out
and then draw in again.
AWe now had eighteen elephants In the
drive and starred to drive them i'm as fast
as possible driving both day and night.
One large bull did considerable damage to
the smaller ones, nearly killed man, and