Hunting and Trapping Stories; a Book for Boys/Hunting and Catching Wild Elephants

by J. P. Hyde Price

Years ago in India elephants were shot right and left, simply to get their ivory, and it looked as though the great creatures would soon become extinct. Then the Indian Government stepped in and put a stop to the slaughter. Elephants are now shot only under special circumstances, for practically all the herds are the property of the government.

The African elephant is even worse off than its Indian brother in the matter of protection, for Africa has not, as yet, any government worthy the name of civilized. Consequently the slaughter goes merrily on. Experienced travellers tell us that in a few years the African elephant will be entirely extinct. It is to be hoped that measures will be taken to protect some of the herds before it is too late. It is a well known fact that districts on the East Coast of Africa that had large herds of elephants a few years ago have none to-day, and the blame is almost entirely to be laid at the doors of the white man. A single hunter, armed with an express rifle, can soon kill an elephant, or even several in a day ; whereas, it takes half a native tribe to run down and kill a single specimen. This satisfies them for some days, as the meat thus obtained lasts quite a long while.

There are three ways in which the elephant is captured. First, by native hunters ; second, by white men who shoot it: and third, where entire herds are trapped alive, and then taught and trained to become beasts of burden.

Let us examine the first. Certain wild tribes, far up the Nile, bordering on Equatorial Africa, hunt elephants on horseback and also on foot.

A traveller gives these two accounts of what he saw. The Hamran Arabs, a brave and warlike tribe, use horses in their hunt. Mounting the fleetest beasts they have, they start for the long grass where the elephants are usually to be found. They first send out scouts to locate the herd, and see that they do not scatter. The hunters always try to attack the animals suddenly, and from several joints at once. They dash boldly forward and tackle the nearest at hand. These men arm themselves with long, heavy,

double-edged swords, which they wield with great dexterity. They gallop among the elephants, shouting and yelling. The big beasts become panic-stricken and try to get away. The object of the natives is to slash the elephants in the lower part of the legs and try to hamstring them. Once the tendons are cut the elephant is helpless, and can be killed at leisure. Only brave men can follow this sport, for the wild elephant is very savage and cunning, and can run like a steam-engine.

The same traveller relates that while visiting other tribes he had an opportunity to see a hunt conducted on foot, where the natives tried to sneak upon their game. It is almost comical to see a huge elephant rush away in panic from a couple of yelling, naked savages. It seems easier to hunt the elephants on horseback than on foot, but in the latter fashion the hunter is really much safer, for he can turn and dodge and take advantage of cover more quickly than when on horseback. More than one hunter has lost his life through his horse obeying the rein just a second too late.

Some of the African tribes kill the elephant in an ingenious manner. They find a pathway leading to some drinking pool where the elephant come down at night. They dig a pit deep enough to prevent the elephant from scrambling out once it has tumbled in. At the bottom of the pit they place an upright, sharpened, wooden stake, smeared with poison. The mouth of the pit is then covered over with branches, and earth is thrown on top ; the whole made to look as much like solid ground as possible. This scheme appears to be very simple, but it reality it is not. The elephant is wonderfully clever at detecting false ground, and if it suspects there is anything wrong it immediately stops and carefully feels around on all sides. If it finds a pit it drags the entire covering off, so that all of its fellows are warned. Moreover, the elephants will forsake that path forever. This has been proven over and over again. The elephant's sense of finding rotten or unsafe ground is all the more wonderful when it is remembered that they do most of their travelling in the night. It is a well known fact that the elephants cannot be induced to cross a bridge that is too weak too support their weight, and no amount of flogging will make them move a foot.

Another point which makes elephant pits objectionable is that it takes many natives, several days to construct one, and if the elephant finds out what is going on, the scheme will be is so much work is thrown away.

On one occasion the chief of a native tribe constructed a large elephant pit. The next day he came down with a number of his warriors to see if there was any game in it. He found only one small part of the top covering disturbed, and kneeling down he peeped in. There was a loud roar and the next instant the chief screamed and disappeared head first through the opening. The warriors rushed forward and tore the covering away. They found that the pit contained a beautiful leopard. They soon killed it with their spears, but not quickly enough to save the chief, who had already been clawed to death. It is not an uncommon thing to find several wild animals caught in a trap in this way. Here however, in spite of the leopard being such a good climber, it could not get out. It could gain no foothold in the soft, crumbling earth. The walls of the pit showed evidences of its frantic efforts to get out, while the hole was to deep for a spring.

Another hunting scheme used in Africa is this. The natives take a baulk of wood about ten inches in diameter and about five feet long, tapering at one end. At the thick end they place a sharpened barbed spear head, covered with deadly poison. This is suspended from a tree branch over a path that elephants are known to use. The end of the suspension cord is cleverly concealed, and brought down so that it crosses the path about a foot from the ground, and so arranged that when an elephant passes underneath it, the cord is broken, loosening the heavy piece of wood which promptly falls, burying the poisoned barb in the animal's shoulder or back. But even here the elephant is alert and often shows its shrewdness by spying the trap before it is too late.

It is the demand for ivory that is causing the death of the elephant, and already ivory is much higher in price than it was years ago. Whenever man runs short of anything he is sure to invent a substitute Now, in the case of ivory a clever vegetable imitation has been placed on the market. It so closely resembles the animal product that ordinary people cannot tell the difference. Of course, it is much cheaper than animal ivory, and this fact may yet save the elephant. The ivory from walrus tusks is worth more than that of the elephant, because it is whiter and keeps its color better. Walrus tusks are small and much harder to get, and therefore more costly.

The shooting of elephants has to be done just right, or disaster ensues, as the following story will show. A hunter in Uganda in Equatorial Africa tried to bring down, with a single shot, an enormous bull elephant. He fired at long range, and the bullet failed to kill. Immediately the elephant squealing with fury, charged the party of men. The hunter jumped to one side but his coat caught in some thick brambles. The elephant crashed past him but not quite close enough to do him harm. But the brambles were torn asunder by the elephant's great weight and the hunter was flung a couple of sommersaults, until he came against a tree with such force that it all but knocked his senses out. When he came back to consciousness he found that the elephant had been killed by his headman, but not before it had trampled two of the natives to death and scattered the remainder. The mangled bodies bore terrible evidences of the elephant's fury.

Near the ear or brain pan are about the only places that a bullet will stop a rush. A certain writer tells a story of having seen an elephant killed so suddenly, while running, that it rolled over completely just like a rabbit. Its body came down with a crash that shook the earth and fell against a good sized tree which was snapped off a few feet above the ground as through it had been a sapling.

The way in which elephants are taken alive is truly wonderful. First of all a huge corral, is made and surrounded by a stockade, built of the largest logs to be found. This stockade is immensely strong, for it is made to stand the rush of terror-stricken elephants. The stockade is covered throughout its entire length with its branches so that the elephants do not notice that it is a trap. The corral is V shaped. At the point of V there is a gate which leads to a large enclosure. This enclosure has a number of smaller ones separated from the main corral by heavy drop gates. So much for the corral.

Now elephants are trapped in a curious manner. An old tame bull elephant, trained for the work, is turned loose in the jungle, and it promptly goes off to find a herd of its wild brothers. What yarn it tells them is not known, but it is not long before the foolish creatures follow the old bull. As

the herd marches along it gathers in stragglers from all points. This takes a good deal of time, and the odd bull is often away several days before it appears on its way back to the corral. The trappers do not worry for they know that the old scoundrel understands its business. Sometimes the bull elephant will go off in a most roundabout way, as though it had to hunt its victims out of holes and corners.

Men scouts are on watch and soon report that the elephant herd has been sighted. Once the head of the herd enters the wide part of the V the trappers know that they have the game all but safe. Men are concealed the entire length of the stockade, on the lookout for accidents or any attempt to turn back. If by any chance the heard wavers, it is scared on from behind the drums and horns and fireworks. Finally the old bull leads the herd through the narrow part of the V into the enclosure. When all are safely inside, the gate is quickly let down, shutting them in.

The old elephant goes up to the top of the enclosure and passes out through one of the drop gates, leaving behind the herd it has betrayed. For a while the elephants do not notice anything amiss, but their suspicions are soon aroused, when they see men bobbing about on the stockade from which the tree branches are removed. Suddenly they realize that they are trapped, and a wild scene ensues. The elephants make frantic efforts to get out, while the men with yells, tom-toms and fire-works, drive them back. The very earth trembles with the struggle, and woe betide the stockade in there is a weak spot in it, but usually it has been built by experienced men and no accidents occur. Not infrequently an unlucky native loses his balance and falls into the yard where he is sure to be trampled to death unless he is as nimble as a cat and scrambles out.

After a while the elephants begin to calm down. Soon all the green leaves are eaten up, and they become very hungry. This is part of the scheme, for they are deliberately starved to break their spirits, and render them more easy to handle. One by one ropes are passed around the great beasts and they are coaxed or dragged into the small enclosure and chained up. For days the poor animals struggle until it seems that they could not possibly live through the strain. No sooner are they humbled, and cease fighting when they are fed, well treated, and petted. The elephant has a remarkably large brain for an animal, and is very intelligent. It does not take it long take it long to realize that there is nothing to be gained by fighting, and it learns to behave itself and begins scheming like a boy.

Each new elephant is placed between two tame ones and taught to work, and sometimes the lesson is not given which such gentleness, for the old elephants while making the captive do what they want, will butt the beast with their tusks with fearful violence. There is a Hindoo say

AN ALARM—ELEPHANTS AND A TIGER

ing that is often repeated and that is that " It takes a year and the life of a man to break an elephant to burden."

The greatest dread of the trappers is that the incoming herd may run across a tiger and be stampeded. In spite of its large bulk and strength the elephant is afraid of the great cat. The temptation to kill a baby elephant often proves too great for the royal tiger, and fearful battles ensure ; for the elephant will protect its young from enemies with great bravery. If the outskirts of the herd are attacked the beasts are liable to scatter and become so panic-stricken that the old bull may not be able to get them together again for some days.

Who tamed the first elephant is not known. On the wall carvings of the temples in India, built thousands of years ago, are to be found pictures of elephants with men upon their backs. Furthermore, elephants were used in Babylon and Syria, and history tells us that there were great herds in the armies of Alexander the Great and Hannibal. Again, elephants frequently fought other animals in the Roman arenas. The elephant is also a valued servant of the British army in India. Two of these great creatures will carry a mountain battery, wheels, carriage, gun and ammunition, over rough ground where no roads exist, nor horses can travel, but it is said that when the firing begins the elephant trembles and will not move forward an inch, and it has to be kept well in the rear.

Elephants do all manner of heavy work in India, and at times it seems foolish to have any man in charge, for the great creatures manage themselves so well. On many occasions they have shown that they have greater wisdom than their " marhouts " or drivers.

An Indian resident told the writers that he had seen an old elephant that worked in a lumber yard, stacking great loads of teak wood. The elephant would get down on its knees and putting its tusks under a log would move, back and forth, until it got it exactly balanced. It would rise to its feet and slowly and gently carry the log to the pile. After it had placed the log in position it would go around to the end and cock its eye along to see if it were straight. If the log was out of plump the elephant would push it here and there with its head until it was satisfied.

The elephant has a very tender skin, for so large an animal, and unless it is properly harnessed it will get "back-sore" in no time. Flies and mosquitoes cause it much worry too, and this leads the elephant to put wet mud on its back as protection. Above all things the elephant loves water, and it is a wonderful sight to see a large number in together. The beast is a splendid

ELEPHANTS BATHING

swimmer and can go with its head out of water, or it can swim completely submerged with nothing but the tip of its trunk sticking out to breath through. It is said that full grown elephants never suffer while swimming from the attacks of the crocodiles, for the big fellows can put up a good fight if compelled to. The Indian Crocodile however is noted too for its great strength and ferocity and it sometimes is foolish enough to quarrel with the the "tuskers" and generally with discredit to itself.

On one occasion a small herd of elephants were splashing about near the banks of a large river in Burmah and among them was one baby elephant not much bigger than a cow. The old mother kept a close watch to see that no harm came to her charge. But while the bathing was going on, a huge crocodile slipped up unnoticed, through the muddy water, and seized the little elephant by a hind leg. Its terrified squeals sent its big companions into the greatest confusion and excitement. Without waiting an instant however, the mother and the old bull leader charged. Meanwhile the baby was being dragged away in spite of its struggles. The mother seized the crocodile around the middle with her trunk and literally lifted it out of water and at the same time tore it away from its prey. Then the bull took a hand in the struggle and together the pair killed the huge reptile. The baby had one foot lacerated, while the father and mother were both badly torn and marked for life. A crocodile does not easily give up its life.