“I was wondering what to do when my father, in answer to her death cry, came charging back, followed by the leader of the herd and two other strong elephants. Discovering my mother was dead, they became furious and began looking for the person who had killed her, for they knew on seeing the spear how she had met her death as they had been hunted so much and knew from experience what those cruel spears would do. They began tearing up young trees by the roots and stamping the ground in the hopes of finding the person who had killed her hiding under a log or up in a tree. But no one could they discover until with a bellow of rage my father’s hind foot was caught in a slip knot of a rope thrown from the limb of a big tree by the native who had killed my mother. The tree was too big for my father to uproot but he began to tear off all the limbs he could reach, but to no purpose—as he tore off the lower ones the native only climbed up the higher.
“‘Ha! Ha! My fine fellow,’ laughed the native, ‘I have you at last! I have gone without sleep, rest and much food to catch you for the king’s stables. He wants just such a good-looking elephant as you to train to carry him in his houdah on your back in the next state procession. So the quicker you get over your fury and become docile, the better you will be treated. Yours will be a life of ease, and no pulling of heavy logs in the river out in the broiling hot sun. You will have a cool, shady pagoda to stay in when the sun is up and a cool deep marble bath to bathe in, and plenty of good food to eat. What more could you wish? And when you take my master for a ride on your back in his houdah you will head the procession of elephants with the nobility and flower of Siam on elephants behind you. Your houdah or seat for the king and all its trappings will be of crimson velvet embroidered in gold, set with precious stones, while theirs will be of silver. Come now, stop that struggling or I shall have to tie up another leg and fasten you to a tree. You won’t? Then here goes!’ and he put his fingers to his lips and gave the sharpest, most penetrating whistle I ever heard or hope to hear. From the bushes on all sides of us appeared other half naked huntsmen, bringing a trained elephant with them to help them subdue my father. And with the elephant’s help they soon had my poor tired father hobbled so he could scarcely move. And here the head huntsman left my father with the natives and returned to the king’s palace to acquaint him with his find.
“Elephants are also caught by drawing a herd into a strongly constructed enclosure by frightening them with noise and fire until the poor things are so confused they don’t know where they are going. Once in the enclosure, with the help of tame decoy elephants, they are quickly fastened to trees by tying one leg at a time. Here they are kept until they become docile and tame enough to be taught what the natives wish them to do.
“There is one interesting thing about elephants and it is this: If for any reason one elephant leaves a herd or is driven from it, he is not allowed to join another or come back to his own. He is forced to lead a solitary, lonesome life and he soon becomes morose and ill-tempered and takes delight in destroying everything. These elephants are called rogues.
“And while I am about it, I will tell you a few more facts about elephants before I go back to what happened to myself.
“The tusks of elephants are nothing more than enormously elongated front teeth. They grow to be seven or eight feet long and often weigh from one hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds. This with the weight of the animal is considerable, as they frequently weigh from four thousand to nine thousand pounds. Their usual height is from nine to ten feet but they have been known to reach the height of fifteen feet. Though so large and strong, they are rather delicate in captivity and require being fed with care. When working they are fed two hundredweight of green food, half a bushel of grain and forty gallons of water each day. When once tamed and trained, they are of immense value in the East where they do the heavy work like pulling and hauling logs, road building and so on as well as being used by royalty on state occasions to carry them on their backs in gaudy houdahs, a kind of seat with a canopy or top over it. At such times the elephants are bedecked in great splendor with head pieces of gold and silver set with precious stones.
ON THAT LONG TABLE SET FOR A HUNDRED FIFTY PERSONS,
EACH ANIMAL FOUND SOMETHING TO HIS TASTE.
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“You have heard of the Sacred White Elephants? Well, there is a dispute about them. Some authorities say they are simply albinos, which means a person or animal all white with red eyes. Others say the white hair is due to a skin disease. Whichever way it is, the people of India consider them sacred and great care and attention is lavished on them. They have pagodas of their own, cooling baths and servants to look after them.
“Elephants are found in Africa, Asia, and Ceylon. The African elephant differs from the species in Asia in being taller, having larger ears and a different shaped forehead. The African elephant is hunted for its tusks which are of great value when made up into ivory trinkets, toilet articles and other things. The natives of Africa in the jungle count their wealth by the number and size of the elephant tusks they have. They are more fierce than the Asia elephants and are not used as beasts of burden so much on that account.