The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-01-15

IA struck OH lnlO IHe JuhSc. DJ
IN mean myself, writes c. l.. Pat
|sethune in the London Field, three
|. one Orang Sungei and one Bad
There was little hope OF coming
$ any elephant until we had
lad the Sibyt or Sabugal River,
4 some two or three days walk.
i It turned out; for, although
rhino tracks were seen, we only
enc elephant track, and that
than month old.
at 3 D. m. the third day out, af-
Having fought our way through a
If almost impenetrable jungle
nearly three hours we emerged
q open space-open inasmuch as
e practically free from under
n We had proceeded a bare
Ia Yards when the leading man
y and pointed to a curious foot
He seemed excited, and when
other men came up there was
deal Of serious pow-wowing. At
a Of the confab they told me that
h,nts we're undoubtedly in the vi
!, and also that in two or three
/ should certainly shoot one!
souuIe of hundred yards further
8. eame across the tracks of a large
Of elephants. The natives pro-
med these to be at least a week
which put them following them up
Il the question. About a quarter of
hge further on we picked up the
i Of q single elephant, which, l
told was only three days old. AS
10 then about 4 p. m. it was too
% do any tracking that day, SO
satiyes built me a "sulap" and
nmped for the night. A 'sulap" Is
ply 4 platform raised about three
% the ground, SO as to keep the
pant out of the wet and also out
ne reach of snakes and insects.
d regard to these latter it did not
shibly fulfil its mission as COM
sb as could be desired. Sleeping
ts ground in the jungle is not ad-
We. especially since such insects
rorpions and centipedes are parti-
~ fond of nice warm beds. These
i are to be carefully avoided, as a
hllow will run up to more than
thes in length. This shelter Is
kout Of saplings dashed with rotan.
lie speed and dexterity with which
rstives run it up is simply as
ding.
nj morning at daylight we start
n on what proved to be very
= and arduous track. One great
Y n our favor was that the ele-
~ was a true sportsman. BY this
I'm that he had not moved along
! my indecent haste, but had fed
7 hthsd, as any self-respecting eie-
= should do, especially when you
II him by being on his tracks. Not
u elephant in that country had SO
hlanced a mind, as l knew by bit
aperience. had some weeks pre-
uly followed up a three days old
tk1ur two days, and even then been
1arer to my quarry, the elephant
1lring speed more desirable than
~ beIly.
ejungle became denser every min
90d what struck me most was
- = exceedingly small amount OF
4lnce such a huge animal makes
de that is almost impenetrable
The reason of this is that
not every kind of underground
Diiable and springy, and there
nless an animal moves fast, he
breaks down anything. The
j Vas abominable; it rained al
csasantly, and at one place, on
Of . small hill, the tracks had
eompletely washed out. 1t took
ekers exactly four hours to pick
n again, which they did about
nile away.
= to our having lost four hours,
fuFally had not gained much on
Nphant by the time we had to
Tor the night. However, that
ne weather improved a bit, and
y the next day the tracks led us
2 more open jungle; consequent
Nere able to make good progress.
10 q. m. we came to a place, a
y monarch's bath. A large tree
llen down and in tearing out its
ead make huge hole, which was
Nth liquid mud. Another fall
rested on the top Of these
snd this, together with a mass of
ETC., had formed quite a good
90 the bath. The herd, whose
No had picked up some way
~ bathed here, and so had our
1tleman.
&c elephant is almost certain
bull; but cases have been
! believe, of a cow, separated
~ herd, wandering about by
At this bath our doubts, II we