Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-11-30
Tanning Elephants.

To see the working elephant at his
best one must go into Burma, where the
teak timber trade, worth millions of dol
lars year, is the staple industry. Teak,
as every one knows. is a very valuable
wood quite equal to mahogany, and
much used in expensive furniture and
fittings. There are in Burma vast for
ests, thousands Of square miles in extent.
and these are leased by the Indian gov
eminent to private corporations, many
of whom employ over thousand ele
plants, each of them worth at least 5000
rupees, or St6T5. These elephants are
renewed from the wild herds, as occasion
demands. But the Indian government
strictly protects every elephant between
the Himalayas and Cape Cormorin, and
not one may be shot save by special
license, and when il is clearly shown he
is a rogue or outcast from the herd,
and on that account likely to become a
serious menace TO the villagers.
The Indian government itself under
takes the trapping of the wild elephants
through its forest department.. In the
old days this was done by digging pits
in the jungle and covering them lightly
with twigs, branches and grass. But for
one elephant successfully taken by this
method at least twenty were MANNED OF
destroyed, and now the "kheddah" sys-
tenn is in vogue. The "kheddah" is sim.
ply an immense Enclosure made with the
trunks of trees and with a V-shaped en-
trance. On day prearranged thousands
of heaters under the supervision of white
shikaris, or hunters, drive the wild herds
from their feeding grounds towards the
kheddah; and at last with thunder that
shakes the ground many hundreds of The
monsters rush screaming and trumpetins
into the great enclosure.
Next day expert mahouts. or drivers
mounted upon tame working tuskers, en-
ter the kheddah and begin TO make
friends with the captives. The work oil
tanning these wild elephants is astonish-
ingIy simple. II is also comic to witness
because so well trained are the tame de.
eoys that should the prisoners misbehave
themselves they are very drastically cor
rected by the tusks Of their taskmasters
In a week or so each captive is led forth
between two tame elephants, and his
education is very nearly complete. Many
elephants are shipped from India proper
up to Moulmein and Burma in ships
specially built for the purpose have
seen as many as 100 full grown elephants
being put on board one Of these curious
liners. They are lifted by special sling
harness, attached TO cables and power.
full crane.
1t is pitiful to see the terror of the
enormous brutes dangling helpIessly in
mid air, and when one realizes what ago
MES they suffer at the mere sight Of a
mouse, one understands their dread oil
being swung in air. The elephant labor.
ers are fully grown at IS years, and
then they do their best work, travelling
faster than the older ones. For nearly
fifteen years they continue TO increase IN
weight. and their experienced mahouts
are able to tell their age at glance by
the shape Of their ears. As workers they
are both quiet and swift; have seen a
Rangoon elephant outrun a fast horse
for a short distance. Oddly enough they
cannot Jump in the least, and a deer
ditch only z feet wide is to them quite
impossible Near sighted they are, too;
but 10 make up for this their sense Of
smell is little short Of miraculous st
Nicholas.