The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-01-08
ANIMAL BUYERS N INDIA
Missouri Man Tells Of
Deals With Rajahs.
EXPENSIVE TRAVELLING
Elephants u Staple Article Of Com.
merce Here--The Servant Problem
In the Far East--India's Wealth OF
Servants and How II Pays-Breed.
ing Snakes for Bounty.

Louis ]. Hall, horse and wild ami.
NAL dealer, returned recently from
India, where he had been making
deals with the Rajahs for elephants,
tigers, monkeys, boa constructors
and other gentle animals which de-
light the heart OF the American small
boy and some Americans that are not
smell.
My dealing was with Rajahs,"
said Mr.. Hall Things went some.
thing like this: When the Rajah
wants to start on an expidition of
any kind he calls his men at arms to-
gether.
The sons OF thunder and light
ming will meet you on yon peak at
daylight with their spears and battle
axes commands the Rajah In stem
torian tones. Have the horses and
elephants ready and provisions for a
three days march Then aside to
the secretary: About right, eh,
Jones?'
" That's the stuff, your Majesty
replies the emissary of Grea, BEitain.
The India elephant is the finest
in the world and is easier to train
than the big beasts of Africa. They
are getting scarce In India now, and
that is why had to travel SO far to
make arrangements for a sufficient
| supply for the American market. A
well trained elephant in America IL
as easy to sell as good horse
There are many ways of trapping
the animal. One is to dig a great
pit on the mountainside, one side OF
which slants in. When the bottom
lands are wet the. elephants go to the
uplands and slide into these pits. A
large, docile elephant is chained to
the prisoner and hauls him up the
! incline.
Another way involves greater
risk to the life of the hunter. The
| pits are excavated on the lowlands,
near the forest. Around the pit is a
strong fence, having two wide gates.
One of these gates is left open.
THE hunters go into the jungles
and beat up the quarry: The ele-
| plants charge out into the open
bent on murder. One man is selected
to toll the enraged beast into the
fence.
The animal follows fiercely dart
Ing into the open gate. and falls into
the pit. The hunter runs around on
the edges through another gate,
which he opens and closes like a fash
Of lightning The elephant is pris-
oner hard and fast. But should the
hunter stumble or fail to get out of
the way quick enough the great mass
Of flesh tramples him into the earth.
zone of the peculiar features Of
India is the requirement to maintain
u large stan of servants II you desire
to appear as man Of any sort OF
degree. You ought to have at least
fifteen or sixteen, You can get that
many about as cheap as you can get
two or three,
When a servant enters your en-
ploy he wants to know, before max
Ing terms, whether he will be per-
mitted to place the orders for sup
plies, You see, he gets commiss-
ion from the. shopkeepers. found
1t cheaper TO make that concession
than to attempt 70 purcase things
myself, ,.s She's. .-.,,s
Each servant has his own particu-
lar department to look after and will
not raise his hand to do any part OF
another servants work. .. ,e
AT all the large stations in India
the traveller is met by reception
committee OF some two or three
thousand coolies, every one OF whom
is anxious to tote his baggage to the
gates, but no further. AT the gates
Of the station you settle up with the
first lot of coolies you have EN-
ployed and enter into a contract will
the next gang to take your grips tI
the carriage.
IF India could sell her snakes she
would be the richest country on the
globe 1t is said that more thar
$4,000 Hindus passed into the great
beyond last year as a result OF snake
bites.
lnSy won I hlll Ah0 lSptAiN9' hANl
are confident some highly respected
ancestor has passed into them. Il
would be better to be bitten to deatt
by an ancestor than to kill 'em, and
thus go to the bad place. So reason
these people.
"There are otner sects, however
which do not entertain the same re
spect for the deadly crawlers, bu
they will not take the trouble to Kill
them unless paid for 1t. Some tim
ago the British Government offere'
a good price for the scalps OF deadly
snakes. The people of this clas
instantly got busv and began breed
Ing snakes.
at is said that while that rewar'
was In force all other businesse
we're laid aside in order to take acl
vantage of the munificence of the EN-
pire. OF course the Viceroy 500
learned OF the inflated condition o
the snake industry and the rewarr
was withdrawn"