STORIES OF ELEPHANT-HUNTING.—SCENES OF THE CHASE.
When the topic of crocodiles and their relatives had been exhausted, Fred reminded the Doctor of his promise to tell them something of the ways of hunting elephants.
"I was just coming to that," said Doctor Bronson, "and have been trying to refresh my memory on the subject. I do not know how they hunt elephants in Siam, but from the appearance of the corral near the elephants' stables, I infer that the process is pretty nearly the same in all countries where the elephant is found in a wild state.
AN ELEPHANT FENCE.
"You observed that the corral, or yard, at Ayuthia was constructed of upright logs set into the earth in the form of a palisade. In Ceylon it is made of heavy posts, with strong timbers placed horizontally, the whole interlaced and bound with withes, and braced with slanting posts on the outside. The fence is generally about fifteen feet high, and the openings in it will easily allow a man to pass through. At Ayuthia you saw that the posts of the corral permit the same thing; the fence is like a sieve, that strains men through without difficulty, but catches the elephants.
FORM OF A CORRAL.
"Here is the general appearance of the fence," said the Doctor, as he took his pencil and drew on a sheet of paper, "and here is the shape of the corral. The corral is a pen, and the word is derived from the Spanish, and means a ring or enclosure. The space enclosed is generally about five hundred feet long by half that width, and at one end there is a gate that can be opened and shut very quickly, and is large enough to permit the passage of but one elephant at a time. There is an avenue, shaped like the letter V, which leads up to the corral, and converges on the side where the gate is placed. It is concealed as much as possible by brushwood, and where it begins it is so slight as to be hardly perceptible. It extends a long distance into the forest, and a great deal of skill is required to construct it successfully.
BEGINNING THE DRIVE.
"When the corral has been arranged, and is ready for occupation, the herd is supposed to be in its vicinity. Eight or ten weeks have been spent in driving in the elephants; the forest where they roam has been surrounded very cautiously, and several herds have been driven together so slowly and quietly, that none of the sagacious beasts has any suspicion that he is being entrapped. Sometimes hundreds of men are employed in driving in the herds, and an area is surrounded equal to several counties of an American state. Day by day the circle grows narrower, and finally the men composing it are able to build fires ten or twelve feet from each other. Not till then do they consider the game fairly bagged, and now they throw off all deception and adopt new tactics. Where before all was still, is now a scene of wild confusion; the men make a loud noise, with musical and unmusical instruments, and each of them carries a torch, which he waves wildly in the air. They do this on three sides of the herd, while the fourth side, in the direction of the corral, is left conveniently open.
DRIVING INTO THE CORRAL.
"The elephants are frightened, and rush in the desired direction; they now begin to suspect a snare, and frequently try to break through the line of men and rush back to their forest home. The men pelt them with the torches, and strike them with the burning sticks, till they turn around again and go where they are wanted; gradually they near the end of the corral, and finally a few of them make their way through the gate and are securely trapped. The natives rush forward and close the bars of the gate, and the rest of the herd is permitted to stray a little way back into the woods, but it is carefully kept from going too far.
"When they find they are caught, the elephants rush wildly round the corral, trying first one part of the fence and then another, in the hope of escaping. Wherever they go, they are met at the fence by men with flaming torches; and they are further terrified by discharges of musketry, and the sound of horns and trumpets. This performance is kept up for several hours of the day, and generally through the night; and at daybreak they make ready to secure the captives, and prepare the corral for a second lot of elephants.
"It is in this work that the elephant shows the peculiarity of his nature, in using all his sagacity to assist in the capture of his kindred. He seems to know what is wanted of him, and invariably appears to take great delight in doing it."
"Elephant nature is not altogether unlike human nature," remarked the consul, with a smile. "Not a few of our fellow-men, whenever they fall upon misfortune, are desirous of having others to share it with them."
"It is an old adage that misery loves company," said Fred.
"But I hope it is not a true one," Frank responded. "Perhaps we had better give the human race the benefit of any doubt on the subject, and say that the quality we have been talking about is elephant nature, and does not belong to us."
His proposal was accepted, and the account of elephant-hunting was resumed.
"The removal of the captives requires a good deal of skill and caution, both on the part of the tame elephants and on that of the attendants. Here is an excellent account of this operation:
"The bars which secured the entrance to the corral were cautiously withdrawn, and two trained elephants passed stealthily in, each ridden by his mahout—or ponnekella, as he is called in Ceylon—and one attendant, and carrying a strong collar, formed by coils of rope made from cocoa-nut fibre, from which hung on each side cords of elk's hide, prepared with a ready noose. Along with them, and concealed behind them, the head-men of the cooroowe, or noosers, crept in, eager to secure the honor of taking the first elephant—a distinction which this class jealously contests with the mahouts of the chiefs and the temples. He was a wiry little man, nearly seventy years old, who had served in the same capacity under the Kandyan king, and wore two silver bangles, which had been conferred on him in testimony of his prowess. He was accompanied by his son, named Ranghanie, equally renowned for his courage and dexterity.
"On this occasion ten tame elephants were in attendance; one of which had been caught only the year before, but was now ready to assist in capturing others. One was of prodigious age, having been in the service of the Dutch and English governments in succession, for upwards of a century. The other, called by her keeper 'Siribeddi,' was about fifty years old, and distinguished for her gentleness and docility. She was a most accomplished decoy, and evinced the utmost relish for the sport. Having entered the corral noiselessly, she moved slowly along with a sly composure and an assumed air of easy indifference; sauntering leisurely in the direction of the captives, and halting now and then to pluck a bunch of grass or a few leaves, as she passed. As she approached the herd, they put themselves in motion to meet her, and the leader, having advanced in front and passed his trunk gently over her head, turned and paced slowly back to his dejected companions. Siribeddi followed with the same listless step, and drew herself up close behind him, thus affording the nooser an opportunity to stoop under her and slip the noose over the hind foot of the wild one. The elephant instantly perceived his danger, shook off the rope, and turned to attack the man. The latter would have suffered for his temerity, had not Siribeddi protected him by raising her trunk and driving the assailant into the middle of the herd, when the old man, being slightly wounded, was helped out of the corral, and his son, Ranghanie, took his place.
"The herd again collected in a circle, with their heads towards the centre. The largest male was singled out, and two tame ones pushed boldly in, one on each side of him, till the three stood nearly abreast. He made no resistance, but betrayed his uneasiness by shifting restlessly from foot to foot. Ranghanie now crept up; holding the rope open with both hands, its other extremity being made fast to Siribeddi's collar, and watching the instant when the wild elephant lifted its hind foot, he succeeded in passing the noose over its leg, drew it close, and fled to the rear. The two tame elephants now fell back; Siribeddi stretched the rope to its full length, and while she dragged out the captive, her companion placed himself between her and the herd to prevent any interference.
SECURING THE CAPTIVES.
"In order to secure him to a tree, he had to be dragged back some twenty or thirty yards, making furious resistance, bellowing in terror, plunging on all sides, and crushing the smaller timber, which bent like reeds beneath his clumsy struggles. Siribeddi drew him steadily after her, and wound the rope round the proper tree, holding it all the time at its fullest tension, and stepping cautiously across it when, in order to give it a second turn, it was necessary to pass between the tree and the elephant.
SIRIBEDDI'S PRIZE.
"One after the other the herd was secured, in spite of their resistance; and the whole time consumed in disposing of an elephant, from the moment the decoys approached him till he was secured to a tree, was about three-quarters of an hour. The captives tried all possible ways to escape, but it was of no use; they were fastened to the trees, and the cords were so strong and so well tied that the greatest exertions of the prisoners were of no effect whatever. Some of the tricks they practised in endeavoring to escape were very ingenious, and showed that the elephant in his wild state has the full development of the sagacity which he displays in captivity. Their strength is enormous, and sometimes they pull down trees in their struggles.
THE PRISONERS TIED UP.
"It is a curious circumstance," the Doctor continued, "that the tame elephant who is assisting at the capture of his kindred never displays the least sympathy for them; while they, on the other hand, show a great deal of it for each other. When a captive, who is being dragged to a tree, passes one that is already tied up, he will stop and twine his trunk around the other's legs and neck, and manifest in all the ways that he can a deep sorrow for what has happened.
A LITTLE HEAD WORK.
"When the animals are secured the corral presents a curious spectacle. The great beasts are stretched out in various attitudes, their feet fastened to the trees, and sometimes spread far apart. They moan and bellow for hours together; they seize hold of the trees with their trunks, and exhaust all their ingenuity in endeavoring to get free. When all other means have failed, they will often try to escape by turning somersaults; and it is interesting to see an elephant balancing himself on his head, and endeavoring to throw his heels in the air. For awhile they refuse to eat or drink, and sometimes they literally starve themselves to death. I have heard of several instances where they have refused to move or eat, and remain motionless for days, till they die. It is generally the finest elephant of a herd that kills himself in this way; the natives say he dies of a broken heart, and I am quite inclined to believe that such is the case. And it sometimes happens that after an elephant has been tamed, and is thoroughly obedient to his keeper, he will lie down and die on the very first attempt to harness him.
IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE.
"There is a story of an elephant in Ceylon, which was one of the finest that had been taken in a long while. He resisted a good deal when first captured; and when they were removing him from the corral to the stables, a distance of about six miles, he was so obstinate that the journey occupied several hours. He escaped once, but was afterwards recaptured and became very docile; but when he was taken to Colombo, he stopped in front of the gate of the fort, and would not enter. While they were trying to persuade him to go inside, he lay down on the ground and died, without the least struggle."
Frank asked in what way the elephants are tamed, after they have been captured and tied up as the Doctor described.
"They are subdued," said the Doctor, "partly by starvation, and partly by kind treatment. Hunger is the great force used, as the elephant is not allowed to have any food until he shows signs of becoming tractable. Sometimes he is starved for a week or more; but he is allowed to satisfy his thirst to a limited extent. When he indicates that he has become docile, and is accustomed to the presence of his keeper, he is released and taken to the stables, where he is well fed. No attempt is made to harness him for some time, but he is exercised with the other elephants, and gradually reconciles himself to a captive state. In nine cases out of ten he never shows the least inclination to rebel, but accepts his new condition of life with perfect resignation; and, as I have before told you, he is quite ready and willing to assist in the capture of his former comrades.
"In some parts of Asia the natives capture elephants by digging deep pits, and covering them with bushes and leaves, so that the trap is quite concealed. The herd is then driven in the direction of the pit, and some of the animals fall into it. A guard is placed over them, and they are kept without food for seven or eight days, and even for a longer period if they do not submit. When they are conquered, the sides of the pit are dug down, and they are led out of the place of their imprisonment. There is a very good story connected with this mode of capture; it is an old one, and evidently the Eastern version of the fable of the mouse and the lion, which is in all the story-books."
"Tell it, please," said Fred; and the request was echoed by his cousin.
"I will tell it," said the Doctor, "though I fear you may consider it too juvenile for you.
"Hundreds of years ago an elephant was taken in a pit in a forest in India. He bemoaned his fate, and wept aloud. The guard that had been left over him was asleep under a tree, and a priest who was passing heard his lamentations and tried to console him.
"'Alas!' said the elephant, 'there can be no consolation for me. I must stay in this pit till I am subdued, and then I shall be the slave of man. No one can save me.'
"'Don't be so sure of that,' replied the priest. 'If you have ever done a good action to anybody, you can call him to your aid, and he will assist you. Think of some service you have given, and perhaps it will now be of use to you.'
"'I have done services on several occasions,' the elephant answered; 'but those who were favored were so small that they can now do nothing for a great body like me.'
"'Tell me one of them,' said the priest.
"'Last year,' said the elephant, 'the prince of this province had captured the king of the rats, and a great many of his subjects. He had them in earthen jars, and was about to drown them; but I came along in the night and broke all the jars, so that the rats ran away and were free.
REFUSING TO MOVE ON.
"'And another time a man had the queen of the tribe of the parrots in a cage, and hung it on a tree where nobody could reach it. I pulled the tree down and broke the cage, so that the queen flew away to her companions.'
"Just then the scream of a parrot was heard from a neighboring tree, and the priest said to the elephant,
"'Call that parrot, and ask him to go and tell his queen to come and see her benefactor, who is now in trouble?
"The elephant protested that it would be of no use, as the parrot could not help him in any way, no matter how willing she was to do so. But the priest insisted, and the elephant obeyed.
"In a little while the queen came, and then the priest told the elephant to send her with a message to the king of the rats. Away she flew, and told the rat king how their old benefactor had fallen into a pit.
"The king sent out his messengers to all parts of his dominions, and by the next morning they were assembled to the number of several millions. The king ordered them to follow him, and they went to where the elephant was entrapped. The parrot queen was there ahead of them, and she had brought millions of her subjects. The guards were now awake, but the parrot queen talked to them and amused them, and she kept flying off a little way at a time, till she drew them out of sight of the pit. Then the rats began scratching at the edge of the pit; and though each of them only threw down a very little earth at a time, there was soon a large path sloping to where the elephant stood. At the same time the millions of parrots began breaking little twigs from the trees, and dropping them into the pit; the elephant piled these twigs and the earth beneath him, and in a few hours he walked out of the pit, and away into the forest, where he joined his companions and told them what had happened.
"'Who would have thought,' he said to his fellow-elephants, 'that the largest animal in the world could be saved by such insignificant creatures as the parrot and the rat. Hereafter I will never despise small things, or despair of being brought out of trouble. Good actions will be rewarded, no matter how insignificant may be their recipient.'"
"A very pretty story!" exclaimed both the boys in a breath.
"It is a story with a moral," Doctor Bronson answered; "and I leave you to apply it while we have a little more talk about the elephant."
"A baby elephant is about the most amusing beast in the world; he is affectionate and playful to a high degree, and there is little difficulty in taming him. Very often the young elephants are taken in the corrals with their mothers, whom they follow to the tying-down place, and thence to the stables when the captives are released from their bonds. A gentleman at Colombo had one that was sent down to his house from the corral where he was taken, and he very soon became a favorite with everybody about the place. He stayed generally near the kitchen, where he picked up a good many things of which he was fond; and sometimes, when the gentleman was walking in the grounds, the young giant would come to him and twine his trunk around his arm, to indicate that he wanted to be taken to the fruit-trees. He used to be admitted to the dining-room, and helped to fruit at dessert, and he finally got to coming in at odd times when not invited. On two or three occasions he managed to break all the glasses on a sideboard, while reaching for some oranges in a basket, and finally he became so mischievous that he had to be sent away. While he was at the house the grass-cutters occasionally placed their loads of grass on his back, and whenever this was done he strutted off with an air of the greatest pride at the confidence that was shown in him. After he was sent to the government stables he became very docile; and when his turn came for work, he performed it to the satisfaction of everybody.
SLIDING DOWN HILL.
"It is said that elephants amuse themselves by sliding downhill; but they do not use sleds, like boys in America. Natives who claim to have witnessed these performances say that the huge beasts enter into the sport with great enthusiasm, and keep it up for hours.
ELEPHANT-HUNTING ON FOOT.
"Elephants are hunted with the rifle by English and other sportsmen; and thousands of them have been killed in this way for the sake of their tusks, or for mere amusement. Their number has been so much diminished by this means, that in India and Ceylon the government has taken the elephant under its protection, and it can only be pursued and slaughtered by the express permission of the officials. At present the paradise of elephant-hunters is in Africa. The African elephant is much like his Asiatic brother; but his ear is nearly three times as large as that of the latter, and his skin has fewer hairs upon it.
"He is a vicious brute, and often turns on his hunter and puts him to a rapid flight. I have read of an Englishman who was one day chasing an African elephant, and, after a great deal of manœuvring, got near enough to give him a shot. It was fortunate for the hunter that he was well-mounted and had a firm seat in his saddle, as the wounded elephant turned after the shot was fired and crashed through the bushes in the direction of his assailant. Horse and rider had a narrow escape, and the two dogs that accompanied the sportsman came in for a share of the fright. The hunter concluded that he would let the elephant go his way unmolested; and when the enraged animal turned back into the forest he was not followed."
"It reminds me," said the consul, "of the story of the army officer in India who was asked if he found tiger-hunting a pleasant amusement. 'Hunting the tiger,' said he, 'is very pleasant as long as the tiger is hunted; but when he turns and hunts you, the pleasure ceases altogether.'"
THE HUNTER HUNTED.
"It is about the same with the chase of the wild elephant," the Doctor remarked. As he said it, the servant announced the readiness of something to eat in the cabin, and the conversation was suspended until the party was seated at table.
"In some parts of the East," Doctor Bronson continued, "it is the custom for princes and kings to give grand entertainments in the shape of elephant fights. Sometimes two elephants are matched together; but quite as often they are pitted against some other beast. Formerly these fights were carried on till one of the combatants was dead or severely hurt; but at present an effort is made to keep them from injuring each other, and the fight is little more than a series of rather violent pushes from one side of the ring to the other.
"Mr. Crawfurd, who was sent at the head of an embassy from the Governor-general of India to Siam and Cochin China in 1821, was present at a tiger and elephant fight in Saigon. His account is interesting in two ways; it shows the manner of conducting one of these fights, and gives us a glimpse at the manners of the Far East sixty years ago. After detailing his reception by the governor, he says:
"We were invited to be present at an elephant and tiger fight, and for this purpose we mounted our elephants and repaired to the glacis of the fort, where the combat was to take place. A great concourse of people had assembled to witness the exhibition. The tiger was secured to a stake by a rope tied round his loins, and about thirty yards long. The mouth of the unfortunate animal was sewn up, and his nails drawn out; he was of large size, and extremely active. No less than forty-six elephants, all males and of great size, were seen drawn out in line. One at a time was brought to attack the tiger.
"The first elephant advanced, to all appearance, with a great show of courage, and we thought, from his determined look, that he would certainly have despatched his antagonist in an instant. At the first effort he raised the tiger on his tusks to a considerable height, and threw him to the distance of at least twenty feet. Notwithstanding this, the tiger rallied and sprung upon the elephant's trunk and head, up to the very keeper, who was upon his neck. The elephant took alarm, wheeled about, and ran off, pursued by the tiger as far as the rope would allow him. The fugitive, although not hurt, roared most piteously, and no effort could bring him back to the charge. A little after this, we saw a man brought up to the governor, bound with cords, and dragged into his presence by two officers.
"'This was the conductor of the recreant elephant. A hundred strokes of the bamboo were ordered to be inflicted upon him on the spot. For this purpose he was thrown on his face on the ground, and secured by one man sitting astride upon his neck and shoulders, and by another sitting upon his feet, a succession of executioners inflicting the punishment. When it was over, two men carried off the sufferer by the head and heels, apparently quite insensible.
"'While this outrage was perpetrating, the governor coolly viewed the combat of the tiger and elephant, as if nothing else particular had been going forward. Ten or twelve elephants were brought up in succession to attack the tiger, which was killed at last, merely by the astonishing falls he received when tossed off the tusks of the elephants. The prodigious strength of these animals was far beyond anything I could have supposed. Some of them tossed the tiger to a distance of at least thirty feet, after he was nearly lifeless, and could offer no resistance. We could not reflect without horror that these very individual animals were the same that have for years executed the sentence of the law upon the many malefactors condemned to death. Upon these occasions, a single toss, such as I have described, is always, I am told, sufficient to destroy life.'"
TAKING A NAP.