Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-06-08
ROYAL TIGER DRIVE IN NEPAL
Close Gordon of Four Hundred Ele-
phants Employed.

Il q IAN cOnQuCIS his
| For the purpose of this single beat
upwards of forty huts had been con-
structed, only Of boughs and leaves 1t
Is true, but still huts quite as substan-
tial as those which the Taros in the
Terai consider good enough for per-
manent habitation. These huts were
built in a perfectly straight line about
twenty yards apart, this line being In
fact the chord of an arc, the arc it.
self formed by a close Gordon Of
elephants.
By day for several previous days
these huts, open towards the arc, had
been occupied by troups Of soldiers and
shikaries who by the noise Of their
chatter and the clatter Of their cook
ing and wood cutting quite deprived
the tigers in the forest in front Of them
Of any fancy for strolling that way;
and by night these sentries had main
tanned huge fires between each hut,
which fires had the same result of bar
ring the way during the dark hours.
In front of this line of huts a path
about ten yards wide had been cleared
of timber so as to permit the conven-
lent approach of the princes elephants
to the scene Of action.
| By this time the prince and his par
ty were beginning to arrive, so the
Maharajah pushed forward to meet
him, and we joined in behind. Now
the plan of operations, which Is indeed
of the utmost simplicity, began to de-
velop itself. The Gordon Of thirty or
| forty elephants which 1 formerly men,
toned and which marked one end of
the arc or semi circle of elephants, now
extended themselves in line, directly
the princes party had passed, so as to
form the chord Of the arc, as far as
their number permitted. In the mean
while, the prince and Maharajah with
their followers, proceeded along the
line of huts until they came to the
last, where was the other extremity Of
the arc.
The elephants Of our party (also
perhaps thirty or forty in number)
were then extended backward so as to
join hands with the pad elephants
which had sufficed to furnish, say, half
the chord, and then the ring Of ele-
plants around the doomed tiger was
complete. Three elephants only were
exempted from forming links In this
chain, those Of the prince, the Mahar-
ajah and Gen. Probyn. These were
within the ring and free to go wherever
desirable, all others to keep In their
places In the circle so far as interven-
ing trees would permit, and simply
press convergently to the centre.
Strict directions were given that no one
under any circumstances was to fire
except the prince. Even Jung Bahadur
and Gen. Probyn would not fire unless
in the case of the princes extreme peril.
Then the ring of the elephants, every
mahout pressing toward the same CEN
| tral point and the prince and his two
companies moving toward the same
point, but within the ring, and little
In advance of our part Of it, began to
close in.
There were about 400 elephants en-
ployed. l should guess that at first
there may have been on the average
| four yards between every two ele-
| plants. Allow six feet for the breadth
of the elephant itself, and the circle
may be roughly estimated. as mile
| IA
interval between the elephants dwin-
died to three yards, two yards, one
yard. At last, except where the trunk
Of a tree interposed, the elephants
were almost touching each other.
Before it had actually come to this
large herd of spotted deer, with two
fine stays among them, had shown
themselves at various points Of the cir
Gle, seeking where to break through.
At last, maddened by the shouting and
crashing Of branches as the elephants
marched on and in utter desperation,
one hind rushed between two elephants
near me and the rest Of the herd fol-
lowed her. The passage Of those timid
creatures was quite enough to show me
what ticklish cattle elephants are. A
number Of them backed out Of the line
and screamed, as much as If these poor
scared deer had been so many ferocious
| tigers; and If tiger had taken advan-
| tage of the momentary break In the
circle he might have got off scot free.
| The deer, however, had soon all
passed and the ring was again contin-
uous. At this time a shot was heard.
I could not see the prince on account
of some intervening underwood, but 1t
was, OF course, he who had fired. Then
| came two shots in rapid succession,
and the shouting of the mahouts re-
doubled; and the noise was indeed so
alarming and stupefying to the birds
within the circle that black partridge
actually flew and stunned itself against
an elephants head.
Then came a fourth shot. Still we
pressed inward. Only now there was
not room for all the elephants to keep
i'm their places in the too narrow cir
Gle and a great number Of pad ele-
phants were jostled out of the front
rank and had to keep in the second
row. At first l could not make the
tiger out, but he moved, and then I
saw the beautiful beast for an instant
as he crept into thicker jungle.
And now the din became deafening,
the trees were crashing as if II forest
was being felled, the four or five hum
dred mahouts shouted like a whole
army of stentors, and the elephants
trumpeted and ran through their en-
tire gamut of unearthly noises. Then
came one, two, three shots, with per-
haps a second between EACH and then
cheers told us that the tiger was dead.
He was a very handsome and rather
large one, nine feet nine inches In
length. No one. of course. had hit him
but the prince, and he had given him
three mortal wounds. The tiger was
soon mounted on O pad elephant and