The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-03
ELEPHANTS WORK IN LUMBER YARDS They Move Great Logs With
 Trunks and Tusks ARE NATIVES OF BURMA Animals Are Captured Wild In Central and Northern Part of the Prov
 ince and Are Trained
 to Work.
ARE NATIVES OF BURMA

William F. Curtis. the distinguished l correspondent of the Chicago Record Herald writes from Rangoon on a subject that is uppermost in the minds of the boys and girls of Birmingham. In a re- cent letter he tells of the lockwood in dustry and then says:
 It is a novel and interesting sight to watch elephants working in the lumber yards. for they do it all. A 3urman sits on the animals neck with sharp steel prod in his hand and directs the beast by touching him on different spots on his l head and by the use of quaint express sions which are understood hy the man and the elephant only. Elephants handle l all the logs and the lumber as intelligent | ly and with much greater ease and rapid | ty than could be done by a sang of men, MacGregor & Co.,, one of the largest lum- boring firms, employ about two hundred elephants in their forests, at their saw mills and In their lumber yards at Ran goon. Strangers always go eown to see the elephants at work. It is the most in- teresting sight in Burma.
 When the cross timbers that hold the 
 rafts together are cut the elephants go down to the watersde one by one, sepa- rate logs weighing two tons or more from the rest of the raft by the use of their l trunks and tusks, and carry or drag them up into the yard and place them upon | piles at the entrance to the saw mill. Sometimes they haul the logs with chains attached to a harness adjusted to their necks and breasts. Sometimes they push them with their trunks and feet, and the ease with which they handle the enor- nous logs is remarkable and the intelli- gence they show is even more so. The only to whisper in its ear what is want ed, and the job is done with neatness and dispatch.
 Captured Wild.
 Nearly all the elephants used In the lumber business-and they are found In every camp and in every lumber yard are natives of Burma, and are captured wild In the forests of the central and northern part of the province. No one Is allowed to shoot them In fact, no na- tive of Burma has a gun. In the ele-
 
 fifteen guns in a population of between 300, 900 and G00,000, and they belong to government officials. The elephant busi- ness is under the control of a commis- sioner, MT. Dalrymple Clark, who makes it his business to keep track of all the wild herds, and in the fall of the year, after the calves of that season are wean- ed. he sends out men to round them up by beating the jungles. Tame elephants are used as decoys. They are well train ed, and. by mixing In the herds of wild ones lead them into corrals, called ''ked- dahs" made of heavy posts 1ashed to- gether with wire. Usually MT. Clark gets from twenty to sixty wild animals into a ''keddah' each drive. He turns out all of the females and drives them back into the forest selecting healthy and strong young males to be kept and trained. They are starved for several days and then placed under the charge of native trainers, who, with the aid of veteran animals, teach the green ones what Is expected of them. When they behave well they are fed; when they are unruly or indifferent they are compelled 10 go hungry, anu they SOoh iSoih NaN truth of the old adage.
 The Yearly Crop.
 The usual crop of young elephants Is about 300 year. Last year a contagious disease called anthrax carried off more than half of those held in captivity, in- cluding several of the best decoys. Hence prices are very high. This year MT. Clark expects a big drive. Large herds are reported, and he is watching them carefully. The government selects as many as it needs from the annual catch and sells the remainder to lumbermen. They are seldom shipped out of the country. A green elephant Is worth from $500 to s1200, according to age and size. Those that are well trained and have amable dispositions are worth $250O and upward
 MT. Clark declared that few elephants are dangerous. Most of them, fully 90 per cent, are docile and harmless, and will not fight unless attacked and cor nered, when they will defend themselves. They are often destructive to houses and crops when they are allowed to go at large, however. but this is due to their awkwardness and not to malice. They always go in herds, and when they cross a rice field or attempt to pass through the narrow streets of a village they are apt to leave disaster in their train. Sometimes vicious animals are found, but usually alone, and they are called "sol- tares." They have been driven out of the heards by other elephants because of their bad dispositions, and are very dangerous. The natives will always avoid an elephant when they find him alone, but go about among the wild herds without the slightest fear. MT. Clarks men shoot 'soltairs'' whenever they find them in the forests.
 The marvellous success of Hoods Sarsa- parilla is based upon the corner stone of absolute merit