The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-10-30
TRAPPING WILD BEASTS
Not Difficult if Certain Rules
are Followed by Hunters
MANY ARE WORTHLESS
Large Rewards Offered Captains Of
Vessels to Insure Safe Transports
tion of Such Cargo As No Insur-
ance Company will Take the Risks
LIONS aud Bears Not Valuable

-
II we we're asked why we adopted
the profession we have chosen In
preference to all others, writes
Charles Mayer, ''trapper to the King
OF SIAM" in the London Magazine,
doubt not most of us would find
It question difficult to answer, and
can only explain that / took to the
business of trapping big game be-
cause 1t appeared to offer a life of
adventure not altogether dissociated
with pleasure nor devoid of profit.
Since I made my choice, eighteen
years ago, have pursued my calling
mostly in the Malay Archipelago, with
occasional expeditions in China, In
dia, Siam and South America.
The risk the trapper is called upon
to run does not end with the caging
Of the quarry. True, the actual peril
of the hunt is at aa end, but he has
yet to get his merchandise TO market
or to the purchaser, which is not al
ways a matter of ease. The varia-
uons OF climate the animals will en-
counter during a voyage, and their
liability to succumb under unfavora-
bic conditions, make IL imperative
that no chance of transportation
shall be lost during the favorable
season.
The obvious remedy against loss
both at the port and on the sea would
be insurance, but 1t is a cargo that
no insurance company will take risks
on. Consequently, the best thing to
do is to personally interview the cap
tain. and give him an interest In the
selling value of the cargo-say, of q
third or half. This may seem lot
to give away, but 10 is wiser to pock-
ct reduced profit than to sustain a
total loss.
1t is because of such difficulties as
these, and of the personal danger run
by the trapper, that the prices of big
game for live delivery run high. IT.
gers are worth anything from ESQ to
E100, leopards from ESQ to $50, ele-
plants from e100 90 e200, while q
rhinooeros or giraffe top the list as
profitable bags, selling at from $500
to 81 900 each. Lions. however, are
q drug on the market, and worth
D6IAE buCu
good breeders in captivity; nor is
there much money in bears. Snakes
are good line, when they run to any
size. The largest ! ever had the
good fortune to handle was a thirty
two foot python, and sold for f200.
And there is this advantage about
these reptiles-they can be stuffed
with sufficient food to last for
months, and, being fed are shipped,
will travel in a state Of coma, giving
no trouble during the voyage.
Elephant trapping pays we'll when
the business is rightly managed; but
II the herd that Is being trapped
gtampedes, weeks of work may be
thrown away, with the possible loss
of two or three lives. Where 1t can
be arranged the better plan is to
work with tame elephant, which
acts as decoy to induce the herd to
impossible, and was SO on the first
occasion / went hunting in the little
known and unexplored state of
Tringgaun in the Malay Peninsula.
We we're in about three and half |
TO four miles of the trap, with the
herd going so well that ! was in |
hopes of seeing them Ia the trap the |
next evening, when toward midnight |
the dreaded accident took place. The |
elephants had got wind of us; pos
sibly baby elephant had seen one of |
the men: and, with trumpetings loud |
and fierce, the lot turned and STAN !
peded, crashing through the jungle |
like a hurricane, and clearing every |
thing in their way. / had just time |
to jump behind tree--in fact, was |
almost thrown there-away from q |
big bull elephant. He missed me,
but, unfortunately, caught the native
blessing the trap, grasping his body |
with his trunk. Placing one foot on |
the poor fellows chest, he literally |
tore him In halves, splashing me |
with his blood. A moment later no |
had another man in his trunk and |
dashed him to death against the tree |
he was trying to reach for shelter. |
When torches were lighted and the |
men collected, we found twelve had
SS~A NoSAOu VI AmPACd " uCdIuI
and the whole thing occurred In |
much shorter time than Il takes to
relate. But seven days later, having |
reorganiZed the hunt, ] had forty |
four fine elephants safely IN the trap, |
including a rarity in the way of a |
youngster with Ave toes on each |
foot, which passed into the posses !
zion OF the Maharaiah of Mvaora
Small monkeys are easy to catch;
they can be caught with birdlime or
q bottle; and by means of the latter |
have captured hundreds. The bottle
must not be too wide in the neck, !
and 1t must be baited inside with |
sweetstuf, or damp rag sweetened
with sugar; then It is fastened by !
string to tree. The monkey comes
along. scents the sweetmeat and ,
~ xa4l Inc a.. A.. n L.