The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-04-21
CATCHING ELEPHANTS.
IFrom Country Life Illustrated.l


banks on the opposite side our elephant
was nearly perpendicular, and we We're
holding on like flies on wall Then we
got into thick jungle grass, and Khalil
said: Master, have you got p1stole?
I think there will be tiger. Directly /
we arrived we went off to inspect the /
keddah and funnel, and found them both /
built and the men busy in dressing them |
with bamboo branches. The drive takes /
place tomorrow morning, and they have |
made a machan Ga PLATFORM Tor me up |
a big tree. The elephants are now IN |
what is called 1.-The surround. This |
means that they are surrounded by men |
in pickets of three, placed seVenty-flve |
yards apart, and this surround is
about five miles round The hrst DUTY
of the men when they are placed is to
cut the jungle on to the next picket, in
some cases only about hVe yards wide,
in others thirty yards to forty yards,
according to the nature of the country.
1t is a well-known fact that wild ele-
plants will not face the open II they
can possibly help it. At night time each
picket lights a fire, and when they near
the elephants moving toward them they
make night hideous with yelling and
rattles. 1 hope the elephants won't
break through and come across our
camp, or there will be nothing left of
u.s. but I don't fancy this Will keep me
awake tonight, as I am awfully sleepy.
Saturday, 6:15 a. nj had a good
nights sleep, although was awakened
twice by the sounds close to my tent.
100 yards of me. never knew before
that elephants were purely nocturnal
animals: they always feed and travel by
night; this keeps the surround men
very much on the alert between sunset
and sunrise.
am going to try and describe the
keddah and funnel to you. The first l
was disappointed in as regards size. L
don't know why, but expected some
thing much larger. This one is only 50
feet in diameter. D. c. says it will hold
$50 elephants-it doesn't look to be as if
it would hold $50 sheep; but he knows
what he is talking about, and he doesn't
expect to catch more than twenty-five
i'll two days drive. It's enormously
strongly built, the upright posts being
sunk eight feet into the ground, and
outside supporting ones five feet to six
feet: all are trunks of trees cut IN the
| jungle, and tied together with stout
1 rope. The inside is thickly filled with
bamboos stuck in the ground to repre-
sent a jungle, which the herd trample
| fiat before they have been inside three
| minutes.
way for $50 yards; the timbers are be-
ing dressed with bamboos, and the or
/ iginal jungle in the middle left stand
ing. Where it is thin. or has been
trampled down, it is filed up artificial
| ly. At the end of the $50 yard funnel
they tie white cloths about feet wide)
to the trees on either side for further
300 yards, and the end of the funnel in
| this white cloth seems q. small thing to
keep wild elephants straight, but they
| tell me it is effective while the herd is
| being quietly driven.
3:30-Just had our tiffin. The drive is
over, and we only got thirteen and
three britchas (youngsters). [ got into
my machan at 9:15 with Khaiil, and the
elephants We're allin the keddah by 1925
which D. c. says is the quickest drive
he has ever had. was awfully excited,
and Khalil was speechless- The thing
that struck me most was the oppressive
silence before the drive started, as, al
though knew there were two thousand
men close around me, could not see or
hear one. After waiting about half an
hour the row began, every man yelling
his soul out, rattleS going and guns be-
ing fired. At last we heard crashing of
jungle in the funnel just below US, and
we saw a big tusker forcing his way
| through. He went straight up and in
to the keddah and then turned and
came half way down again, and met the
rest of the herd, and they all stopped
and seemed to be considering the stu
alton.
BY this time the line of heaters was
within so yards of them. and 1 thought
they We're going to charge the men, but
evidently they couldn't face the noise
and the fire, and some of the men firing
at them with buckShot, so they sudden
ly turned and rushed into the keddah,
! and I saw the gate fall Then the gong
sounded and all was over. I don't think
that I told you they light three lines OF
fire in the drive directly the elephants
and heaters have passed-one just out
side the funnel, one just inside, and
the third just inside the stockade part OF
the funnel I stayed in the machan
about five minutes after this, as D. c.
told me not to come down until he
; called me, but I saw him and V, one
each side of the gate, on top of the
. keddah, keep firing down into it, so
got down to see what they were dol G.
am eli DeE fO q pat q
, and hardly got there when a big ele-
plant charged straight at it. 1t die
give me a start. This I found out was
what they were firing at, shooting with
No. 4 shot at the forehead of any ele-
plant that charged at the gate One
( grand old tusker did it five times, anC
his forehead was streaming with blood
from the shot. D. c. says it only makes
) flesh wounds The gate is the weak
est part of the keddah till it is shOreC
t up from outside with heavy timbers. D
G. had to go down just now and kill ons
of the tuSkers as it was fighting. II
was a great pity as it was the second
largest. standing about S1t feet The
biggest is a grand brute, standing fee
s inches so D. Q. says but 1t looks tt
me much bigger.
Sunday. 12th-Today has been a very
! | interesting one, and I have been on tor
Of the keddah all day except an houl
for tiffin, seeing the catch tied up
: ! There are elephants trained especially
for this work. called koonkies -they are
all females, as tuskers would probably
' fight). and eleven of these, with theil
: | mahouts, were brought close up to tbs
gate, and then a second gate was Dull
/ behind them in case of accidents. TheI
$ the big gate was opened, and in they
5 went and the gate closed behind them
I looked for a free fight at once, a scr
| of Roman arena business, but the vic
ones evidently mistook them for sons
of their friends left outside by mistake
? Still, I can't for the life of me maxi
Z out why they didn't go for the mahouts
1t was the same all day; they didn
take the slightest notice of the men. Tn
: plan of operations was to single out TIL
; animal they wanted to tie up. Then tn
kOonkieS backed toward the herd, drlv
ing them to one side of the keddah, ant
Y tI,a.a all4-ared get the one thay