Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-17
CATCHING WILD ELEPHANTS
Some Exciting Scenes In and About Bengal
Keddah.
How the Animals Are Tied Up After
They Are Captured-One Big
TusISer Causes Trouble.


III the tdrO nils, tWeHlS-SlS lilies ltOii
Mankac har. We started at $50 and arrived
here at 30, stopping half an hour for tif-
fin. 1 had Khalil with me on the elephant,
and l don't think he enjoyed himself We
had to cross two small rivers, and climbing
up the steep banks on the opposite side our
elephant was nearly perpendicular. and We
were holding on like flies on a wall. Then
we got into thick jungle grass. and KhalI
said: Master, have you got pistole?
think there will be tiger Directly we ar
rived 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 Ia
platform for me up Il big tree. The ele-
plants are now in what is called 1.-THE sur
round" This means that they are sur
rounded by plen in pckets of three, placed
seventy-fve yards apart, and this sur
round is about five miles round. The first
duty OF the men when they are placed is
to cut the jungle on to the next picket, in
some cases only about five yards wide, in
others thirty yards to forty yards, accord
ing to the nature of the country. 1t is a
well-known tact that wild elephants will
not face the open if they can possibly help
it. At night time each picket lights fire.
and when they hear the elephants moving
toward them they make night hideous with
yelling and rattes. i hope the elephants
won't break through and come across our
camp, or there will be nothing left of us;
but don't fancy this will keep me awake
tonight. as I'm awfully sleepy.
Saturday, 6:15 AMI had a good night
sleep, although / was awakened twice by
the sounds close to my tent. The elephants
must have been within 100 yards of me.
never knew before that elephants were
purely nocturnal animals; they always feed
and travel by night; this Keeps the Sur
round men Yer. much on the alert be-
tween sunset and sunrise.
am going to try to describe the keddah
and funnel TO you. The first l was 'disap-
pointed in as regards size l don't know
why. but expected something much larger
IhiS one is only 10 feet in diameter. ID. c.
says it will hold $50 eephants-it doesn't
look to me as if it would hold $50 sheep;
but he knows what he is talking about, and
ne DOESN'T expect to catch more than
twenty-five in two days drive. It's enor-
mously 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 rope. The in
side Is thickly filled with bamboos stuck in
the ground to represent jungle, which the
herd trample fiat before they have been
inside three minutes. The funnel is stock
aded IN the same way for go yards: the
timbers are being dressed with bamboos
and the original jungle in the middle left
standing. Where it is thin, or has been
trampled down. it is filled up artifcially
AT the end of the 25o-yard funnel they tie
trees on either side for further 300 yards
and the end of the funnel in this case was
about half mile wide; this white cloth
seems small thing to keep wild elephants
straight. but they tell me it is effective
while the herd is being quietly driven
3:3o-Just had our tiffin. The drive is
over, and we only got thirteen and three
britchas youngsters. l got into my ma
chan at ?:15 with khalil, and the elephants
were all in the keddah by OBS, which ID.
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. although l knew there
were two thousand men close around me-
l 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 being fired. AT last we heard crash
ing or jungle in the funnel just below u.s.
and We saw big tusker forcing his way
through. He went straight up and into
the keddah. and then turned and came half
down again, and met the rest of the herd
and they all stopped and seemed to be con-
sidering the situation.
BY this time the line of heaters was
Withln nifty yards Of them, and L thought
they were 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 suddenly turned and
rushed into the keddah, and | saw the gate
1all. Then the gong sounded and all was
over | don't think that 1 told you they
the elephants and heaters have passed-one
just outside the funnel. one just inside and
the third just inside the stockade part of
the funnel l stayed in the machan about
hVe minutes after this. as d. c. told me not
TO come down until he called me, but
saw him and v, ore each side Of the gate
on top of the ked1ah, keep firing down into
it, 50 | got down to see what they were
doing, and climbed Up to the top of the
gate, and had hardly got there when a big
elephant charged straight at it. 1t did give
me start. This l found out was what
they Were firing at, shooting with No. i
shot at the forehead of any elephant that
charged the gate. One grand old tusker
did 1t five times. and his forehead was
streaming with blood from the shot. D. c.
says II only makes flesh wounds. The gate
is the weakest part of the keddah till it is
shored up from outside with heavy timbers
ID. I. had TO go down just now and kill
one of the tuskers as 1t was fighting. 1t
was great pity, as it was the second
largest, standing about So feet. The big
gest is a grand brute, standing feet 8
inches. SO ID. c. says. but it looks to me
much bigger.
Sunday, 12th.-Today has been a very in
teresting one. and I have been on top of the
keddah all day except an hour for tiffin,
seeing the catch tied up. There are ele-
plants trained especially for this work,
called koonkieS (they are all females, as
tuskers would probably fighU, and eleven
of these. with their mahouts, were brought
close up to the gate, and then a second
cidents. Then the big gate was opened,
and in they went. and the gate closed be-
hind them. I looked for a free fight at
once. sort Of Roman arena business. but
the wild ones evidently mistook them for
some of their friends Ieft outside by mis-
take.
Still. can't for the life of me make out
why they didn't go for the mahouts. 1t
was the same all day; they didn't take the
slightest notice of the men. The plan of
operations was to single out the animal
they wanted to tie up Then the koonkes
backed toward the heard, driving them to
one side of the keddah. and then maneuv-
cred to get the one they wanted between
them. Then they leaned inward and so
damned him tight, and then two men crept
In and hobbled his hind legs. Next a stout
rope was fastened to one hind leg and he
was pushed backward and fastened close
to the side of the keddah to one of the sup
porters. OF course. this takes time as they
| fight every inch Of the way. The big
tusker bad a rope put round each foreleg
as well and pulled taut. 1t gives one
great respect for the strength of the ked-
dab when one has seen what 1t will stand,
as I have today. Some elephants literally
stood on their heads in straining to get
their hind legs free. One small tusker
| made himself so very Objectionable that a
big koonkie was ordered to give him a
thrashing, which she did thoroughly,
Knocking him down fhreo tfpoos lrpaoI;r, ~