Norwich bulletin., 1920-06-23
WHERE THE ELEPHANTS
COME FRoN

COME FROM
 Papa, where do the elephants come rom ?'
 The answer to this question that Any boy is apt to propound to Anyfather when spring brings the circus to town i is answered in a National Geographic Society bulletin as follows:
 "Showmen prefer the Indian elephant to the African on the score of disposi- | tion, but there is no more loving mother than the African female, for she never | discards her young. It is quite common | to see her lunging through the Rhodesian l jungle followed by three of her babies, | nine, six and three years old. while a fourth one is on the way; the gestation period is two years.
 Africa, of course, is the hunters paradise and there the elephant is more apt to be short than captured and tanned. Of the endless variety of game, the pur- suit of the elephant is deemed the most dangerous. In British territory a license costs S125 to shoot four of the beasts. The hunter starts out with a retinue of hundreds of native who closely scan the ground for ispoor' (dung) and when it l is apparent that herd is near, the excitement becomes intense. A huge | bull of about four tons with grand pair of tusks is sighted. One shot in ex- actly the right spot (just back of the shoulder) will bring him down. Although | the most short-sighted animal in the | world, he charges in fury if the hunter 1 has been unlucky, and in a few brief moments the valiant crowd has fled in terror. If a lucky shot, the hunter 1 has three or four hundred dollars worth 1 of ivory, and the ecstatic army of hun gry savages devours the carcess and all | that cannot be eaten at the time is car ried back to the village of huts, to re- joice the hearts Cor rather the stomachs) of the women and children.
 Elephant hunting in Burma and in India takes different forms. In India great long V-shaped stockades are built. | the arms of which are sometimes mile long. The elephants are driven into the large opening. little realizing that they are walking into a trap. They are gradually driven down toward the apex of the V, where they are forced through a gate in a big pen.
 ''In Burma instead of a great, haring V of powerful posts planted in the ground, there are two converging rows of lights fastened in trees. The hunting is done at night. As the elephants are
 maneuvered into the broad opening be- tween the outer ends of the rows of lights another row is thrown across the open
 ing. and the elephants retreat farther | away from the lights as possible Then , another row is thrown across the opening and this in turn is succeeded by other lines, the elephants constantly retreatine
 from the lights and finally finding them. selves at the apex, with the choice of entering the small stockade or breaking
 through the cordon of lights. The for mer seems the lesser of the two evils tc the majority of them.
 "Once inside the stockade. two trained elephants draw up alongside the beas : to be captured, one on each side, ant
 hold him between them until a man loon. a big chain around his foot and anchorl , him safely to tree. There is a terrific l. free once more. and this often lasts fo a hours. But even an elephant finds somi
 bonds he cannot burst, and finally be d comes reconcied to them.
 Then the animal is left without s thing to eat for days, becoming famishe, and weak. Next it has to be taugh 0 that no effort it can put forth can cir l. cumvent the will of the trainer. Oftel !, the latter fastens a log chain about it = neck and hitches tame elephant at tn n other end. Sometimes the captives re e sist with such unconquerable determina e tion that their necks are broken in tn IS struggle. Others are so adamantine il {; their spirit of resistance that they figh k for freedom to the bitter end and neve
 yield to training
 IS But as soon as one yields it is treat {; ed gently, and it finds out that the wa.