Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-02-01
Hliseellansuus 8saains.
ELEPHANT HUNTING.
An Exciting Sport of the Eastern
Provinces of India,

Provinces of India.
The periodical keddah operations ir
the Mysor elephant jungles afford q
spectacle brimful of excitement; no.
where in the world can they be wit
messed except in India, and here only
in Mysore and in the extreme eastern
provinces.
Taking place about once in three
years, they are generally made to syn
chronise with viceregal visit or the
presence of some other distinguished
guest, and most elaborate arrangements
were undertaken on the recent occasion
in honor of Lord Mimic. The jungles
where the keddah takes place are forty
miles from Mysore..
The beat was carried out with mar
vellous skill. The elephants had been
before the beaters for eight days, and
were brought up gently by line OF
something like 1000 men over several
miles Of country. Enormous trumpets
and shrill horns joined their hideous
noises, drums and bamboo clappers
beat necessarily.
Every eye was strained to catch the
first glimpse Of the approaching herd,
and what was really only few min
utes Of waiting seemed an age. At last
a dark clump of elephants emerged
from the underground, numbered into
the stream with a tremendous splash,
and, still crowding in bunch, plodded
slowly across.
Issuing from the ford at their famil.
lar landing place, the elephants at once
entered the wide mouth Of a funnel
shaped stockade strongly built with the
stems Of young trees with brushwood
interlaced to conceal the strataSem
from the unwary animals. A minute
later they entered small, palisade en-
closure at the end Of the funnel and a
heavy gate Immediately fell down and
closed the entrance.
The elephants were now in circular
stockade Of only about forty feet in di-
ameter. There were fourteen Of them,
and as the spectators mounted the
platform erected on the outside Of the
palisade a scene of wild interest met
the eye. The poor, trapped beasts
surged round the enclosure in a push
ing, struggling, solid mob.
There was one large, but not fully
grown tusker and one huge female; the
remaining eleven were most Of a size
or two smaller and three were almost
babies, one Of them standing no higher
than a donkey and appearing to have
but little chance of surviving the grind
ing crush.
The great beasts packed themselves
together exactly like a Rugby football
serum. At one moment, with their
heads to the centre, they would be
showing against each other and Wheel
ing about in the centre Of the stock
ade, at another the leaders would ap-
ply their heads to portion Of the bar
riers and the remainder pushing be-
hind, the whole pack would throw their
weight against the timbers in a vain
effort to force a passage.
Six kumakis, or trained elephants.
with their mahouts on their backs,
were then brought in for the next stage
Of the operations. This was the roping
up Of the captives preparatory to their
removal. There were two methods Of
procedure. The first was for the big
ger animals, and consisted of mauoeuv-
ring them to the side Of the stockade,
so that their hind legs could be LASH
ed to the upright logs.
The trained animals pitilessly bus
tied the herd. Pushing, prodding, hurl-
ing their monstrous weight in short
charges under the guidance Of the ma
houts, they kept them continually on
the move, so as to single out the larger
animals. Meanwhile the ropers crept
in through the apertures Of the latticed
walls, watching for a chance to put a
slipknot on a leg, keeping wary eye
upon the movements Of the untamed
brutes, and lodging back into tine pal
isade at the sign Of danger.-Times Of
India.