404 



THE ELEPHANTS. 



stands quietly. How they manage to get up, unper- 

 ceived, to the wary animal is a mystery. A Euro- 

 pean cannot follow them on such a trip, as his pres- 

 ence would spoil everything; so he must content 

 himself with the accounts the hunters themselves 

 give of their exploits. That mode of capture which 

 delivers entire herds into the power of Man, is an 

 undertaking of much grander proportions and more 

 profitable results. For this purpose the beginning 

 of the dry season is usually selected. Then the head 

 huntsman repairs to the locality where a numerous 

 herd of wild Elephants has been ascertained to ex- 

 ist, accompanied by a few hundred trained natives, 

 and as many tame Elephants as possible. The wild 

 herd is first noiselessly surrounded by a double line 

 of sentinels, the circumference of the circle extend- 

 ing over a distance of from three to six miles, and 

 the sentinels are posted from sixty to one, hundred 

 paces apart, according to the nature of the locality. 

 As a rule, a herd surrounded in this manner can 

 effect its escape only through gross carelessness of 

 the guards. Within a few hours the huntsmen have 

 silently fenced in the whole area with split bamboo, 

 and have created for themselves shelters made of 

 branches and heavy foliage. In this manner a large 

 portion of the forest is completely enclosed, due 

 care being taken to provide an abundance of food 

 and water from natural sources. The Elephants are 

 thus nominally confined, but are usually restless only 

 for the first few nights, when any attempt to break 

 through the barrier is easily defeated by means of 

 torches, rifle shots and shouting. This enclosure is 

 maintained for from four to ten days, or, until the 

 time that a strong pale, or pen, the " Khedda," be- 

 gun simultaneously with the larger outside circle, is 

 completed at some favorable spot within the first en- 

 closure. The solid pale is constructed of trunks and 

 posts, and is about twelve feet high; it encloses a cir- 

 cular space of from twenty to fifty yards in diame- 

 ter, leaving free an entrance about four yards wide, 

 which can be closed by a heavy portcullis or trap- 

 door of logs, two lines of palisades, forming two sides 

 of a triangle of which this gate is the apex, leading 

 from it like wings to the distance of about one hun- 

 dred yards. As soon as these arrangements are 

 completed, the circle around the herd is contracted. 

 The nearest sentries are posted at the ends of two 

 wing-palisactes, while the more distant ones advance 

 against the Elephants, slowly and prudently at first, 

 then increasing in speed; finally, when the animals 

 have reached the wide funnel-shaped opening of the 

 Khedda, a general assault takes place, accompanied 

 by shouts and discharge of firearms, the animals 

 effecting their retreat between the two converging 

 lines of palisades and entering the inner paling by 

 the narrow gate. The portcullis drops down, as the 

 rope which holds it is cut in two, and the herd is 

 taken. This driving-in process is not always unat- 

 tended with risk and danger, for the huge animals 

 often take alarm, and in their wild rush at the hunts- 

 men, break through the lines and escape. They 

 must then either be encircled once more or else be 

 given up entirely. As a rule, however, the hunters 

 succeed in driving the surrounded herd into the pen 

 and keeping them there in spite of their restlessness 

 and occasional attempts to break through the pal- 

 ing. When the first tumult has subsided, tame Ele- 



phants, together with their trainers and the hunts- 

 men, are sent into the Khedda. Here the operation 

 of individually securing the wild Elephants, one by 

 one, is slowly pursued. As each animal is suffi- 

 ciently subjugated, it is chained and led into the ad- 

 jacent forest to be firmly secured to a tree, and held 

 for further disposition. This ends the work of the 

 huntsmen, and that of the trainer begins. The wild 

 Elephants at first exhibit a more or less refractory 

 temper, but as soon as they have become used to 

 Man and to their tame associates they are taken to 

 the government training parks or to the place of 

 residence of their captors, where their training is 

 completed. 



African Elephants In our zoological gardens the Af- 

 Bear Captiu- rican Elephant thrives as well as 

 ity Well. j|; S Asiatic brother, and is fer- 



tile in devices for meeting its wants under circum- 

 stances which correspond little to its natural environ- 

 ments; for instance, where it lacks sufficient space 

 for free exercise or a large enough bath tub, it com- 

 pensates for the want of the former by walking up 

 and down or by lifting and setting down its feet, 

 and for the absence of the latter by squirting water 

 over its body with its trunk. Its excellently devel- 

 oped organs of the perceptive senses, its docility 

 and its gentle temper are patent to every observer. 

 It learns to play and "works" willingly and with 

 pleasure, and therefore constitutes one of the most 

 prominent features of every menagerie, as it also be- 

 comes the favorite pet of the visitors to a zoological 

 garden. The amount of food it consumes is very 

 large. Haacke says that an Asiatic Elephant in 

 the Frankfort Zoological Garden, about forty-three 

 years old, received daily sixteen pounds of wheat 

 bran, sixteen pounds of rye bread, four pounds of 

 rice and fifty pounds of hay, not counting the straw 

 of his bedding which he occasionally ate and the tid- 

 bits of the visitors, which usually assumed the shape 

 of wheat and rye bread, sugar, fruit and similar 

 things. The same animal drank about sixteen pails 

 of water daily. 

 Flesh of African The flesh of the African elephant 

 Elephants as an has the taste of beef, but is much 

 Article of Food, tougher and of coarser grain. The 

 Negroes cut the muscles into long strips, dry them 

 in the sun or over the fire and grind them to a coarse 

 powder before using, which they mix with their other 

 plain dishes. During the hunts of the Niam-Niam a 

 sufficient number of Elephants are sometimes killed 

 to supply several villages with meat for months. 

 " Often did I see people," says Schweinfurth, "walk- 

 ing towards their huts, carrying what I believed to 

 be large bundles of fire-wood, these being their 

 portion of Elephant flesh, which, cut in long strips 

 and dried over the fire, had assumed an appearance 

 closely resembling that of wood and dry branches." 

 Economic Value For the world's commerce the only 

 of the Elephant part of importance in the make-up 

 Product f t he Elephant is the ivory, but that 

 is of very considerable value. The total movement 

 of the ivory of now existing species of Elephants 

 which was handled in commerce during a period of 

 five years recently noted, gave an annual average of 

 about 1,736,000 pounds. Ceylon and Sumatra fur- 

 nished 4,000 pounds, the Indies 36.000 pounds, and 

 Africa 1,696,000 pounds. 



