JANUARY Vi, 1883,] 



FOftEST AND ST&EAH 



465 



masts, sails, and divers other tackle, complete the list, not 

 forgetting a few cheap colored lithographs of the Virgin 

 Mary, and some saint or other. 



"The inhabitants:, re, as a general thing, a fine set of people. 

 The men, mostly of Indian race, speaking among themselves 

 the Mava language, are sinewy and athletic. The women, 

 of medium heigtit, are handsome, graceful, not over shy and 

 rather slovenly." 



He carefully surveyed the ruins and made photo- 

 graphs of the "temple," which shows that it has suf- 

 fered from the hand of time since the visit of Stephens. He, 

 however, locates it at the south end of the island, while 

 Stephens erroneously places it at the north. The building is 

 twenty-eight feet long and fifteen deep, of stone. The in- 

 terior is divided into two corridors, the ceiling has the 

 triangular arch, and according (o both Le Plon'geon and 

 Stephens, it gives evidence of being the work of th a . builders 

 of the main land. Portions of the structure have been used 

 for building purposes, but to-day, says the doctor, the people 

 obtain stone from a large ruined city on the main land oppo- 

 site Mugeres, where they go with fear and trembling, lost, 

 they should meet with Indians from Tuluni and be made 

 prisoners 



"A very happy confirmation of the statement of: Diaz that 

 these people burned incense was made here. " Desiring to 

 varnish the negatives, in order to carry them safely home, 1 

 put som" live coals in the bottom of the incense burner, and 

 entered the shrine to bo protected from the wind ; wheu lo ! 

 a slight vapor arose from among the coals, and a sweet, 

 delicious perfume filled again the antique shrine as in the 

 days of its splendor, when the devotees and pilgrims from 

 afar used to make their offerings and burn the mixture, care- 

 fully prepared, of styrax, copal, and other aromatic rosins 

 on the altar of the goddess." The northern and eastern 

 shores, especially the latter, are doited with ruins, a cordon 

 of ruined villages, cities, temples and palaces is drawn along 

 the coast. None more interesiing has been described thin 

 the City of Tuluin, which Stephens identifies, with much 

 show of reason in his support, with the great cities of lime 

 and stone seen by the first Spanish visitors. Here he found 

 a grand "castle" and extensive buildings, some with I 

 of beams still supporting a crust of mortar. Buried in a 

 dense forest he found sculptured stones, altars, watch-towers, 

 paintings, stucco work and a beautiful style of architecture. 



The whole northeastern portion of Yucatan is a wilderness, 

 a section of country that was once teeming with people and 

 full of populous cities. It is almost unknown, and it is to- 

 day not impossible, as Stephens says, "that within this 

 secluded region may exist, unknown to white men, a living, 

 aboriginal city, occupied by relics of the original race, who 

 siill worship in the temples of their fathers." 



From this long detour to the north, let us return once 

 more to Puntas Arenas, where I left my friend Alonzu ready 

 to renew the search for flamingoes. lie was determined lo 

 find some and to put me within gunshot of them, even if we 

 had to go to the Rio Lagartes, fifteen leagues away, for he 

 had promised the Consul he would. But I was deter- 

 mined to leave for Qdam and civilization, as by another day's 

 delay I might miss the steamer down the coast and be hin- 

 dered another week in my journey to Mexico. Finding uic 

 obdurate, he yielded gracefully, and to his already numerous 

 favors added the crowning one that I should take his horse 

 to ride, while be relumed to the rancho. Then he embraced 

 me and patted me on the back, commended me to the old 

 Indian who had been our guide, and started on his walk of 

 three leagues to the rancho, while I turned his horse's head 

 westward and we purled to meet no more. My guide, a 

 withered and wrinkled old man, mounted astride a little stal- 

 lion, between two packs, and his legs hanging down by the 

 horse's nick, led the way. I thought my misfortunes ended, 

 but this was an ill-starred trip, for we had not been ten 

 minutes on the trail before my horse got stuck in soft mud 

 of the shore and rearing up fell over on me, pinning one leg 

 in the soft ooze. How 1 escaped from the wildly flounder- 

 ing animal is something I do not understand to this day, but 

 I remember scrambling over the mud like a crab, on hands 

 and knees, and afterward picking up cartridges, silver and 

 a broken watch chain, while my guide captured the horse. 

 After being scraped, I again mounted, experiencing much 

 trouble after this, for the horse, made fearful by his fall, 

 snorted and fell to trembling at every soft place in the sand. 

 At the frequent sloughs I was obliged to dismount and pound 

 the horse with the branch of a tree from behind, while the old 

 Indian dragged him ahead from in front. There were two 

 long leagues of this kind of traveling and we were much re- 

 joiced when some straggling huts announced the approach to 

 the seaport of Qilam. A large portion of the way was 

 through a mangrove forest, where I had good opportunities 

 for studying this peculiar tree, noticing how it sent out and 

 down its aerial shoots for a foothold in the water and at the 

 border of the sea, and the entire absence of such shoot:? and 

 lateral supports back a little distance on firm land. At the 

 Puerta — a collection of thatched houses and a half-completed 

 church — we sought for breakfast, and seeing a nice-looking 

 girl in a doorway I asked if we could get it there. She 

 said, yes, and gave me some tortillas and frijoles. but the 

 table was guiltless of plate, knife or spoon, though it was 

 clean. After breakfast I reclined in a hammock in an 

 inner room, while the young girl swung m another 

 a few feet distant, with a plump babe of a year or an. 

 She was hardly fourteen, large and finely formed, wilh 

 lovely oval face and large dark eyes. She looked so young 

 aud childlike, despite her maturity and maternity, that I 

 could hardly believe her the mother of such a bouncing 

 child, and asked if it were really hers. "Si, senor," she 

 answered, slowly raising the lashes from her beautiful eyes, 

 ''esmio" — it is mine— and, she added with a charming 

 fraukness that astonished me, " and yours too." I had in- 

 tended saying something neat in compliment, before I got 

 thiB answer, but such an excess of politeness as au offer of 

 joint paternity in a child I had never seen before that hour, 

 fairly overwhelmed me, and I silently withdrew, settled my 

 bill, mounted and rode away. The two leagues between ihe 

 port and o'tlam proper were soon gone over, and I slept that 

 night in the "casa" of Don Juan "el yiej'o — of Mr. John, 

 the old man. " Manyana temprauo," was' the order 1 gave 

 my Indian for the morrow, and for a wonder he appeared at. 

 daylight. "We were delayed for chocolate at the " tienda" 

 of Don Juan, the younger, who, while 1 sipped the drink 

 aud ate my " pan dulce," or sweet bread, played for me on 

 the guitar. 



It rained at intervals as we rode toward Timax, but the 

 air was pure and sweet with the odors of flowers, and the 

 many birds in the thickets enlivened our journey, so that we 

 arrived at our destination without fatigue. I was in season 

 to go the rounds with the doctor among his patients of the 

 Village, and was pleased to find, that ho had lost but three 



during my absence, and had only two in a critical condition. 

 One man, who had been expected to die of a protracted 

 drunk, the Doctor had physicked in vain, and this rooming 

 he had mixed ii,) some powerful calomel pills, quietly re- 

 marking, "If these don't do the business that Indian will 

 hand in his checks before noon." They did not kill bint, 

 and my friend thereby added another laurel to his wreath 

 aud had ano'. her convalescent to extend his fame as a medico. 

 I could not help reciting those classic lines of the poet : 



The last day of: my stay the Doctor naturalist arranged for 

 a grand "poo" or turkey hunt, and early in the morning, 

 after giving his patients some quieting medicines, we gal- 

 loped out to a rancho, ten leagues distant. It was almost 

 entirely abandoned, being solely in charge of Indians. The 

 mayoral or head man had ou, like all the rest, simply a 

 breech-cloth, hat and sandals, aud carried a machete or yreat 

 knife. Ilia skin was hard, brown and polished. These 

 poor people had nothing to eat except roots from the woods 

 and what they could kill, The corn crop of this year had 

 failed, and half the population of Eastern Yucatan were sub- 

 sisting on roots, small game, lizards aud saakes. Speculators 

 had got control of American corn, though every steamer was 

 bringing vast quantities to Progreso, and many people were 

 starving in consequence. We wait an hour under a big ceibo 

 tree— a siik cotton— while an Indian knocks down some 

 cocoauuts, and brings us paw-paw fruits as large as pump- 

 kins, which taste like musk melons. Then we are taken 

 across a large milpa or field, in the blazing sun, and posted in 

 a wood, wlide our Indians range about to beat up the game. 

 In the dry dead woods, which in this dry season much re- 

 semble our Northern woods in autumn, we wailed for hours. 

 My only visitors were a brown aud golden humming-bird, a 

 ehachalka and some inquisitive blue jays; but the Doctor 

 got a shot at a llying gobbler, which escaped, and that ended 

 the huut. We walked back to the rancho in the heat, covered 

 with gairapatas or ticks, that are so small as to he hardly 

 visible, yet bite like red ants. In the eveniug we si rolled 

 through ihe town, seeing many pretty faces, as at thai lime 

 the ladies appear and sit in their doorways and chat and 

 smoke. 



ihe next morning the Indians brought in three turkeys, 

 the result of our inciting them to hunt for them, and among 

 them was one line old gobbler, whose plumage was resplen- 

 dent with sheen of polished eopper and gold, who had two 

 buckshot through the lungs. This was undoubtedly the one 

 the Doctor shot, aud which the wily Indians had traced out 

 after our departure. This magnificent bird, representing 

 the finest of his race, the Doctor presented to me as a souve- 

 nir of the occasion, aud his assistant aided me in skinning 

 aud preserving him.* My friend had a " corner " on these 

 ocellated turkeys, having killed and bought over one hun- 

 dred. All were shipped to Paris, to a large dealer in bird 

 skins, wtio supplied the museums of Europe. Never before 

 had so many been sent to the museums, and even now there 

 are not a dozen in the United States. Since my departure 

 the Doctor has returned to his home in the North. If he 

 can be prevailed upon to prepare his adventures for publica- 

 tion, the record of his three years' sojourn in the solitary 

 forests of Yucatan, the world will be delighted with the 

 richest mine of fore.it and aboriginal lore ever opened to the 

 public. 



The correct, or mail coach, left at two in the afternoon for 

 Merida, with myself aud two Yucatecos as passengers. In 

 learning that they were Yucatecos we naturally inferred that 

 they were gentlemen, as they were, and that they would 

 linger at every possible point on the road, which they did, 

 first at "fiesta," where there had been a bull-fight — a 

 " toro" — aud then at a dance. We reached the town-house 

 of the General just in time for dinner, stayed with him an 

 hour or two, and parted with him with an affectionate em- 

 brace, and arrived at Motul at dark. Here my companions 

 ordered supper, refusing lo let me pay for it or share in the 

 expense, saying that I was a stranger and their companion, 

 and that it was their duty to see me through. It is the 

 custom here, before eating or drinking, to offer what you 

 have before you to the people about and they thank you, but 

 don't accept. 



We changed mules at Motul and galloped nearly the whole 

 distance to Merida, stopping now and then to stretch our 

 limb3 aud smoke. As there were four of us, including the 

 driver, the " volan" was full. There was no room for re- 

 clining, and we were cramped in unnatural positions through- 

 out the long twenty leagues. It was one o'clock in the 

 morning, by the dim light, of a waning moon, that we en- 

 tered the suburbs of the capital, aud waked the echoes of 

 the silent streets by driving furiously to the plaza. 



^^~ Obbr. 



» > » . 



MY FIRST ROGUE ELEPHANT, 



DniBui-i), Ceylon, 16th Nov.. 1881. 



I SUPPOSE that long since you have given me' up and 

 have Cully made up your mind that my oft repealed 

 promises to write to you aud give you a full, true and par- 

 ticular account of men, an.fm.-ils and things in general in 

 this far away isle was never going to be fulfilled. Well. 1 

 plead guilty of delay, but hotter late than never, and I'll 

 promise faithfully to make up for lost time and tell you ex 

 s,ctly how we live aud "how it's done." "One touch of 

 nature rn-ikes the whole world kin." So from the East 1 

 will touch you up in something I know is common to us both — 

 viz., the love of true sport, and try and relate briefly and 

 succinctly (for postage rates are high from here and the 

 price of coffee is low) how 1 had that never-to-be-forgotten 

 joy of shooting my first elephant. 



It is early morning. The pale light just beginning 

 to show itself eager to throw off the dark mantle iron 

 the land and expose all its loveliness. Brighter and brighter 

 it- grows. The delicious cool breeze is wafted through the 

 jungle and over the small strip of patna (or open ground), 

 on which we were encamped — laden with all the "spicy 

 aroma" of Ceylon's Isle, as Bishop Heber sings, but where 

 he carefully adds, " only man is vile" — and as the morning 

 grows still brighter, that faint "shimmer" of the atmosphere 

 which betokens, however cool the morning, a day of intense 

 heat, warns us all that it is time to be on the track of that old 

 rogue that we have been following up so assiduously for the 

 last two days. 



The jungle cocks have done crowing. The tent is struck 

 and safely packed in the bullock cart ; and Appuhami, our 

 Cingalese servant— a man tall and gaunt, but, singular to say, 

 not cadaverous looking ; on the other hand, like all Cingalese, 



♦ This turkey is now in the museum ot Wheaton seminary, Nor- 

 On, Massachusetts. 



he has the appearance " as to" a certam part of his body of a 

 well fed aldermau — has received his last orders "to be sure 

 and be ready by ten at latest, at that strip of patna behind 

 the village : and that if he is not there he will get the ' sack.' 

 as sure as his name is Appuhami." " Suah, sah I certain I 

 be there: master hungry: master want bre ikfast ! Why f 

 not be there ?'' All the same it is odds on Appuhami not 

 being there by mid-day. But then, if we come on Mr. 

 Rogue it is equal odds on our uot being there. 



"Now, Jack, have you got that rifle all right to-day? 

 You know it was all that beastly cartridge that made us play 

 the fool yesterday ; and, if we don't get him to-day, I'll be 

 hanged if I'm going to tramp afier him any more, but go in 

 for small game. Much better fun." 



"All right," replied Jack, " there is no fault with the old 

 gun to-day : but as you couldn't hit a haystack at a yard, I 

 don't exactly see what it matters to you." 



All the same, mon ami Jack, as I happen to be the one 

 that is to have the honor of carrying, and I hope firing with 

 the said gun, and as elephants, and especially this old boy, 

 are rather apt to charge sometimes, and, moreover, as 1 

 happen to be at the present moment in the p; ssession of good 

 health and very full of life, 1 don't see why I should not be 

 a " leetle partikler" about this 'ere shot-gun, Do you ? "Oh 

 dry up, and let's get along," was the rude remark to my very 

 natural appeal. 



"Now, Mootisami, lead on. Strike right over there and 

 hit that bit of jungle at the corner, and I'll go over here, 

 while you, Jack, take the centre and meet at the big rock, 

 and coo-ee if you hit the trail." 



Off we started, each to our several points, with the gun 

 bearers bringing up the rear, eacli bearer with a spare gun 

 and ammunition, we going like human sleuth hounds, eagerly 

 lookirtg out for tracks. Soon we were in the jungle. Dense 

 masses of undergrowth and creepers, thick as a man's wrist 

 on either side— undergrowth so thick that if you went off the 

 narrow trail, it would take a sharp axe to cut through it, and 

 even with a knife one would hardly make more progress in a 

 day than the crew of an abandoned ship are said to make in 

 the Arctic regions. The jungle is teeming with life. 

 "Twitter, twitter, twitter," right and left, above, and, I 

 was going to say, below, and I don't think I would be exag- 

 gerating if I did add it. No matter, however, tempting 

 though — no matter if the graceful "cock" comes with a 

 " whirrrr I" over your head and yon get a chance of a shot 

 that makes your fingers itch to pull the trigger — you musn't 

 fire if you are after big game, no! Monsieur Rogue 

 Elephant is just as eute as you can make him. It is really 

 marvellous how such an enormous beast as his Lordship is 

 can keep himself so quiet and be so hard to find. I have 

 known au elephant to come right down through a coffee 

 plantation where the trees arc planted about five by four, 

 and he being so minded has hardly broken a single branch. 

 But, let my gentleman be in a different mood and woe-betide 

 the place he has set his elephantine mind on destroying. 

 There won't be much of that crop to assess on. 



Presently a long oto-ee was sounded to my right, and press- 

 ing on I soon found myself at the edge of the jungle we had 

 been passing through — a strip of patna before me, and Jack 

 just beginning to give auother vigorous coo-ee.'— oa my right. 

 " Don't make such an infernal row, you idiot. You would 

 frighten any elephant within ten miles." "He's there I 

 He's there ! 1" said .Tack, jumping like a maniac, and indicat- 

 ing a small island of jungle just in front and surrounded on 

 all sides by patna; " I saw him just "going in. Here are his 

 tracks," pointing to the deep impression of a heavy foot on 

 the ground— no doubt of it now. There they were with the 

 ground hardly yet recovered from the pressure of the huge 

 carcass. In fact, as we looked, one liltlesprig of grass slowly 

 raised itself and once more renewed its life. 



"Now, Jack, he's there suic enough, and it is your turn 

 for first shot. He won't turn on his tracks, so you whip 

 round to the other side with your gun bearer, and I and the 

 rest will beat through here. But, mind you, coo-ee loud, if 

 you miss him, for then he is sure to turn, aud I must look 

 out." 



Here let rue explain that the great difficulty and danger in 

 shooting a rogue elephant, or, in fact, any elephant, lies iu 

 this : that there is only one really vital spot in the body of 

 the Ceylon elephant, and that is just above the trunk, ft is 

 about seven inches in circumference, and I believe you might 

 discharge a mitrailleuse into other parts of his body without 

 doing any further harm than perhaps giving him an attack of 

 indigestion. When an elephant charges, he raises his trunk 

 just above this vital spot and " trumpets," aud then when he 

 is about fifteen to twenty yards off, ho lowers his trunk and 

 head simultaneously and comes straight at you. This is your 

 time ; and woe betide you if you mi3s and are not quick on 

 your legs. If you have a quick and steady bearer, you may 

 have a chance of a second shot, but it is only a chance, aud 

 it is odds on the bearer having bolted before you have fired 

 your firet shot. 



But to resume. Jack had hardly got round to the other 

 side, and I had not yet begun to beat when I heard a shot. 

 A loud coo-ee, followed by something that sounded like, 

 "Look out for yourself," proclaimed that Master Jack had 

 missed : and that the man "that couldn't hit a haystack at a 

 yard" ran a prelty good chance of killing his first elephant, 

 or his first elephant killing him, a case of paying your 

 money, etc. 



Soon I heard a crash a little to the left of me, and I quickly 

 retreated further from the jungle, and placed myself, 

 with my bearer behind me, opposite to where I heard the 

 crunching of the boughs. A deathly silence followed — not a 

 sound. A white man, standing like a statue, with the butt 

 of a heavy elephant rifle at his hip ready to present, and a 

 bronze statue behind with a rifle in his hands, eagerly bend- 

 ing toward the white statue— patna around— the brilliantly 

 green jungle in front — and, above, the clear blue sky. I 

 remember thinking this at the time, and what a good photo- 

 graph it would make ; and all the time I was, to tell the 

 truth, in a mortal "funk." Not that I thought of "bolting," 

 for my nerves were so braced up that I don't tbink I could 

 have run if I had tried, but I had a sort of feeling that I 

 would not be angry with M. Le Rogue if he went another 

 way. In less time than I have taken to write this there was 

 another crunch ! crunch ! crash I of the jungle, this time on 

 the right, followed by a trumpet loud enough to wake the 

 dead, and out came the huge brute and made right at me, 

 his trunk waving iu the air, and a hoogh, hoogh! coming 

 out of his open month. Ou he came, and just as he was 

 about, seventeen yards off, down went the trunk and up went 

 my rifle to Ihe "present." One glance along the shining barrel, 

 a strong pull on the trigger, and what was two seconds before 

 an infuriated " rogue," by whose side, in point of heighr k 

 Capt. Bates would have looked a pigmy, now came with a, 

 run to the ground, and lay a huge inanimate mass at my 

 feet, ' 



