The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1905-12-02

Is the omdii1s- ~
prof. Worcester's Hard Task IN &c
,;no a Shot at onc-can't ce OroE
ped.
uppatriotic though it may sonn'
80 American bison was great only j
s.,oarance. His shs1ey frCntlet, hi
rild eve and his mighty coronet cor
.ooled As cawardly a ton of flesh a
ever stirred, says the Washington
star.
pp, even if We have 10 admit tha
a., bip Ros Arleticanrs nf the tnitet
Sa.es is not WORTHY ef honor eXccp
,sa marvel Of the animal world. the
snanjsh-Amcrican war saved our face
for when We acquired the Philippines
ve acquired with them a buffalo that
,s the wickedest thing That ever moved
on four legs. The Philippine cara5ao
or water buffalo is wicked enough
+ when wild, and even in tanned state
h prone to attack human bein@s sud
denly. But the ti,narau. although much
smaller than the carabao, is SO mean
and savage that he will search ont
/ carabao and kill them for the mere
hre of killing.
Nobody ever has tanned a timarau
Nobody in the Philippines wants to
try; indeed, few natives Of the Philip
pines ever want to see one. The fear
Ct the tiger and lion in India and
Africa is as nothing compared with
the fear of the timarau in the Island
Of Mindoro.
So deeply rooted is the fear Of the
furtive, belligerel:t. relentless little OK
that Profs. Worcester and Stcere were
unable even to find out what kind of
beast it was when they visited the
Philippines in 1883 on an exploring
expedition.
Everybody warned them against the
creature, but no two descriptions
agreed. Prof. Worcester says that
one man solemnly assured them that
Il had only one horn, which grew
straight from the top OF its bead An
other declared that ne had never seen
my horns on it. but it certainly had
,nly one eye, which was set right in
he middle of its forehead.
These tales spurred them on, and
hey visited Mindoro, only to search |
vain for several months until they |
ound a tribe called the Mangyans, |
'ho knew it well. They said that it
'as like small buffalo, with straight
orns running upward and backward
re those OF a goat. They expressed
reat fear Of it, and told him it at
lcked and killed the big water buf-
10 every time it got a chance, and
ow 1t would charge a man when
'er It was approached.
Finding out about timarau and find
6 tlmarau were two different things.
le creatures were SO marvellously
y and cunning that, although the
rty followed trails day after day /
llch showed where whole herds had
they never even caught
glimpse of the animal itself.
Al last after more weeks of hunt
!, a native tracker led them to a
ing place OF timarau; but he did
only after he had forced an agree.
nt mat he be permitted to run as
u as ne had located the game for
hunters. He pointed into the
mes, whispered "Timarau, senor."
raced madly away, his face gray
fear.
rol. Worcester worked his way .
pluily through the bushes, but 8
10 not see the buffalo for a long +;
:, SO perfectly was the animal con- {
ed. AT last he saw his head and
], but just as he did so the bull t
ed MS head and the shot missed
y | fired a second time," says '
professor, there came crashes in :
Jungle on every side of me. l
walked into a whole herd of tim
without knowing it. One old
$1,000 his ground and | gave him a
NET In the shoulder. Furiously n
nirled around on me. AS | push. o.
ne Sliding block of my rifle to T
another cartridge into the mag o
the mechanism jammed and left Il
lace wounded timarau with Ia
SIS gun. Why that brute did not te
'e mas always been a mystery to h
never afterward knew one to a
70 90 it under similar circum- OF
es. What he did do was to rush IL
into the brush after the herd" H
I. worcester found his tracker al
Lree and had SO hard a time coax ds
I'm to come down that they lost sc
all. Z,
plte careful hunting and despite oI
act that ,ney were in timarau III
y, they got no other shot that w
md 1t was not until the next trip ps
'rof. Worcester got one Of these SO
'es, and then only by firing half
ess into the bushes where he in
see one indistinctly. 1t is rare m
these little buffalOes are found Pi
except cover so dense that the CT
must cut his way through it 90
knife. foot by foot. This and Oh
ct that II he happens to get pr
scent Of lurking buffalo the
will charge him as quick as
ng and gore and trample him