The Washington times., 1932-07-01
CHAPTER ONE

earth.
Other animals are forever ex-
periencing tough luck. They
lust never get the breaks. With
luckless feet they instinctively
tread on all of Fate'S banana
.peels and, without quite know
ing what it's all about, go skid
ding into Old Man Trouble.
Such an animal was The Pat
sy, a young female elephant I
brought out Of Ceylon some
years ago. I'm the Far East
the term "The Patsy" is still
widely used to designate the
one-man, woman, child or
beast-who is forever getting
the worst OF it, No living
creature I have handled in
many years as a collector Of
animals, birds and reptiles for
the ZOOS and circuSeS had a
run Of bad luck comparable to
this elephants.
The fateS started plotting
against The Patsy when three
natives of Ceylon-Singhalese-
set out one day from Handy
for the interior. HarmlesS-look-
ing natives they were, too. Aside
from work-knives they carried
no equipment with them as
they stepped into the jungle
and anyone observing them and
guessing at their vocation would
hardly have written them down
as elephant-catchers. Yet that's
what they were.
Large Order
In India, Burrnah and Siam
the capturing of live elephants
is an elaborate process fire.
quently calling for the services
Of hundreds Of men and much
equipment. The elephants are
rounded up and driven into
keddah or corral. In Ceylon,
where they are content to catch
one elephant at a time, the
method is much simpler, as wit
ness the performance of the
three Singhalese.
Shortly after stepping into
the jungle the trio started
plucking lalang, a tall wiry
grass. They also cut down
jungle creepers, stripping off
and retaining the outer peel
ing and throwing the rest away.
AS they walked along they
busted themselves with the
taSk-a simple one for these ex-
perts-of weaving these tough
Jungle fibers into a rope. On
they moved, plucking the raw
material and, when it was
ready for use, braiding and
twisting it in the prescribed
Ceylonese manner.
After two or three days Of
this, in the course of which
they slept in the jungle and
lived largely on wild fruits,
they had a rope about rs feet
long and about two inches in
diameter rope neat and pill
able and of well-nigh incred-
ible strength.
Then they entered upon the
second phase Of their job. It
was the business of locating a
small herd Of wild elephants.
This accomplished, they calmly
proceeded with the next step,
the ticklish task Of getting the
herd headed toward a narrow,
wooded ravine (Which these
men had found convenient once
before in their elephant-catch-
ing exploitS). In carrying out
this part of the assignment the
trio from Handy had to bring
all their knowledge of pachy-
derm reactions into play. Oc-
casionally one of them would
SNEAK around the herd, remain
ing in view just long enough
for the animals to see him and
get it through their heads, in
case they had any doubts, that
they were being pursued.
In a chase such as this the
quarry frequently veers off the
course and has to be worked
back cautiously to the right
direction. This requires a ire
mendous amount of patience,
. quality in which the singha-
leSe are not lacking.
5. The Chase
Once they had the herd def
if1itely headed for the ravine
two of the men ran around till
they stood facting the far side
Of the gorge toward which the
animals were moving. When
the beasts were inside the bor-
ders Of the narrow opening the
Singhalese pair dashed forward
till they were directly in front
Of the herd, jumping up and
down, frantically waving their
arms and emitting ear-splitting
shouts designed to halt the ele-
plants in their tracks with a
audiences sure to result in a
jam.
The man who remains be-
hind in an operation Of this
kind is the one who is handlest
with the rope. He also has to
be the nervieSt of the three, for
his is no feat Of long-distance
roping. His rope is much too
heavy and cumbersome for
such work, and, besides, these
natives know nothing about
laSSoing.
AS the shouting and, arm
waving pair started their crazy
dance, the elephants suddenly
halted in their flight, rearing
Jlp on their hind legs and emit
ting snorts of dismay. The
ravine was now choked with
milling, trdmpeting elephants
ak..,,Ns~R - kiaasSs