Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-18


away.
1 once was going on pad ele-
plant over some broken hill country
above a deep river bed with precipit-
Gus banks, and saw a bear in some
high grass. In order to get a shot,
1 had to kneel on the pad, Is the
grass was high.
started yelling, which, made the ele-
plant run furiously in the direction
of the river bank. The mahout
managed to stop the elephant close
to the bank. but as he turned her
around the bear came toward us, still
screaming. / had been thrown down
when the elephant bolted and was
lying across the elephants back
holding on to the rope of the pad
with one hand and clutching my
rife with the other
The elephant started to retreat
backwards and actually put one hind
foot over the precipitous bank of the
river, the bed of which was full of
boulders, some 80 or 40 feet below
l had an unpleasant vision of land
ing on the boulders, with the ele-
plant on top of me, but fortunately
the elephant. finding nothing under
her outstretched hind foot, stopped
retreating and executed a thanking
movement on the top of the bank
By this time the bear had died 1t
was a nerve-shattering experience.
*
THE Indian wild boar ia a fovmid-
= able animal and a solitary old
hog is sometimes an awkward Gus
toner, although the chances of his
attacking unprovoked are not as
great as in the case of the sloth bear.
A full-grown boar will stand about
80 inches high, and sometimes more,
and weighs more than 200 pounds.
He is very active animal and prob
ably the bravest to be met with any
where. l have seen one charge a line
of elephants and literally hurl him
self against one of them.
The tusks of the Indian wild boar,
for some unknown reason, are con-
siderably longer and thicker than
those Of the European boar, although
1 think that in some cases the wild
boars of France, Germany and Rus
STA attain a greater size and weight.
The Indian boaTs weapons are his
lower tusks, which project some
inches from the lower jaw. A big
pair of lower tusks will be about
9 inches long, but more than half
this length Is imbedded in the lower
jaw.
Friction against the upper tusk
gives the lower tusk a point and
cutting edge as sharp as knife, and
when the boar attacks he opens his
mouth and cuts upwards and side
wise with the lower tusks. The
wounds inflicted are likely to be
poisonous, although not nearly as bad
as those inflicted by the teeth and
claws of a leopard.
One not infrequently hears from
the villagers OF some bad tempered
old boar which has taken up its po-
sition In a high crop, or In piece OF
jungle, and which attacks any one
who goes near IL. I remember several
cases when inoffensive workers in
fields were wounded by these bad
tempered solitary animals. 1 recall
the case of a boy who was sitting
down in field and was attacked by
an old boar, which ripped him so badly
in the stomach that he died shortly
after arriving at the local hospital.
Some villagers once told me that
there was a savage pig close by. so
I got a spear and rode out to inVes-
tigate He was living in a little patch
of thin grass with a few bushes in 1t.
He got up behind me and came
straight for the horse, very fast,
thoroughbred mare, and before l
could get her properly on the move
he caught us UP from behind and
ripped my boot open, the tusk cut
ting a long cash right through the
stout leather. l killed him a few
seconds later. AS soon as he realized
he was being pursued he turned ana
charged. and a spear through the
withers settled him.
have only once been charged by
boar when on foot. 1 was coming
back to camp late in the evening
along a little path which ran through
the jungle. 1 had been out trying to
stalk a deer, and was wearing rub
ber-soled shoes. A big boar came
out of the jungle on the path about
40 yards ahead OF me, stopped and
appeared to be considering what he
should do next
We stood looking at each other for
what appeared to be long time, but
which was probably in reality only
few seconds. I did not want to shoot
him If 1 could help 1t. as there was
some pig-sticking ground on the river
a few miles away. After profound
consideration, the old hog decided
that he had better remove me from
the path. He got bullet in his head,
which knocked him out when he had
covered about half the distance be-
tween us.
7 THINK that. as a rule. a wild boar
IL which attacks a man will simply
knock him over and then pass on,
generally inlicting a severe cash or
two en- PEASANT. l once saw friend
of mine who was on foot with spear
charged by a heavy pig, which liter
ally threw him into the air without
cutting him at all. the spear glancing
harmlessly off the thick shield of the
hide which protects a boaTs Shout
ders. Sometimes a boar which has