February 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
585 
A TUSK OP lYORT, 
Mr. Herbert Ward, in “ StiRiBNER’s Magazine.” 
Silent, and almost motionless, quite hidden in the 
darkness, stood the huge form of an old bull 
elephant, one of whose tusks had been damaged in 
his youth and had become totally decayed. His 
hoad was bent forward in order to rest his one 
monster tusk upon the ground, his trui k, loosely 
coiled between his fore-legs, was also resting on the 
ground, and his great ragged ears flapped spasmodi- 
cally in vain endeavours to shake off the myriads 
of mosquitoes that persistently hovered around his 
head. Suddenly the forest was lit up by a most 
vivid flash of lightning,followed an instant afterwards 
by a crashing peal of thunder. The elephant raised 
his head with a startled jerk, his huge limbs shaking 
with fear. Almost before the rumbling, echoes 
of the thunder had died away, the rain, that had 
been threatening for so many hours, fell in torrents. 
Flashes of lightning succeeded each other so rapidly 
that the attendant peals of thunder were converted 
into one continuous roar, and the violence of the 
wind soon increased to a veritable tornado — a tropical 
hurricane. Trees were blown down and uprooted on 
all sides of the terrified elephant, who remained for 
some time motionless with fear, but, as the tempest 
continued, the monster became suddenly panic- 
stricken, and charged madly through the dense forest, 
stumbling and falling over the trunks of uprooted 
trees in his endeavours to gain some open patch 
where there would be no danger of being crushed 
by the falling timber. The lurid flashes of lightning 
revealed the frightened animal wiih coiled trunk and 
head bent low, blindly smashing a way through 
the dense woods. Suddenly, in the midst of a mad 
rush, the elephant sank to the ground with a c.harp 
squeal of pain. The poor brute had severed the 
vines that supported one of the traps that had been 
arranged the previous day, and a heavily weighted 
spear was plunged between his shoulders. For some 
moments the wounded animal remained motionless, 
then the great body rolled slowly from side to side 
in vain endeavour to free himself from the spear, 
but the weapon was barbed and the points had 
penetrated too deeply to be shaken oft. After many 
efforts the animal at last got on hia legs again 
and staggered a short distance through the forest 
until, growing rapidly weaker from loss of blood, 
he stopped to rest and leaned the weight of his 
body against a large ant-hill, breathing heavily and 
groaning deeply in agony. Here he remained, 
exhausted, until daybreak, hia hide covered with 
patches of mud and deep red smears of blood. 
Gradually the rain ceased, and the wind died away. 
With the first glimpse of dawn in Ihe village, there 
was creaking from the small square cane doors of the 
huts, as th'-y were removed one by one, and dark, 
manly figures, with long spiars in their hands, 
stepped forth and stretched themselves, after their 
night’s heavy sle^ p. 
After hastily arranging their scanty loin-cloths 
of beaten bark, the men all started into the dark 
woods to see if any elephant had been wounded by 
the traps. The party entered the forest iu single 
file, but soon divided into small companies and set 
off in different directions. loko took an entirely 
different route from the others, and when about 
two miles from the village he halted suddenly, 
snapped his fingers, and placed his hand over Ins 
open mouth saying to himself in a low tone : Loik 
at this elephant track! See what a path is hp-r 1” 
He followed tho trail for some time, until within 
view of tho trap he had set the previous day, when 
hie excitement became intense, for ho foui d the 
spear was gone, and the grass and loaves beneath 
the snare were covered v/ith blood. Without hesita- 
tion, he followed the blood-stained tracks, until he 
approached the great ant-hill, near which he stopped 
a moment to extract a thorn from his foot, He 
\vp ■ startled by a deep groan, and, cautiously stepping 
f' id, ht saw his prey leaning its unwieldy form 
ag-'.ii.st til. mound. ‘‘Lo-o-o! It is the evil one, 
L.tm Lmene !” (Big Ears) gasped loko to himself 
exciieuiy. Silently watching the animal, to decide 
in ills own mind upon the best mode of spearing 
him in a vital part, he firmly gripped his heavy 
spear, the shaft of which was fully eight feet long, 
and stepped softly forward until within reach of 
the left shoulder of the unconscious animal. With 
steady nerve he poised his weapon, and with a 
mighty plunge drove the keenbladed spear deep into 
the elephant’s heart, and sprang away among the 
trees. With a shrill, trumpeting cry of pain, Litoi 
Linene staggered to his feet, swayed forward quivered, 
and fell to the ground lifeless. loko after waiting 
a few moments to satisfy himself that the animal 
was dead, calmly stepped fourth and raised a cry 
that echoed through the woods, and which soon 
brought several of his companions to the spot. 
Without any further sign of excitement he quietly 
buBie l himself in cutting his barbed spear from the 
carcass. He then examined the one large tusk and 
the decayed stump of its fellow, remarking to his 
companions, who were now arriving: “Now the 
evil spirit is dead, Litoi Linene will lead no more 
devilish elephants to our plantations.” 
In a very short time the scene became indescribable. 
Excited men with sharp knives commenced cutting 
lumps of meat from the still warm carcass, and 
throwing them to the eager women and children, 
who crowded around the baskets, quarelling like 
wild animals over the possession of each pie- e of 
flesh that was thrown among them. Tho savages’ 
hearts were filled with joy at the prospect of a 
huge feast. That night, under cover of the darkness, 
loko, all alone, buried the one heavy tusk of Litoi 
Linene in a swamp far from the village, so that 
only he himself knew of the place of concealment. 
He hid <he tusk according to the tribal custom, for 
in the Aiuwimi districts the people of neighbouring 
villages are seldom good friends, and they all have 
a habit of attacking each other at odd times in 
order to capture men, women, and children for 
cannibal purposes. As tusks of ivory have an 
acknowledged value, equal to that of a human being, 
it is customary for the members of each village 
to conceal in the forests as many tusks as they 
can obtain, so that they may be in a position to 
redeem, if permitted, any of their companions who 
may be unfortunate enough to fall into the bands 
of their hostile neighbours . — Public Opinion. 
« 
RETURNS FROM THE INDIAN MINES. 
As the present year of grace approaches its close 
investors are naturally on the qui vive for information 
upon which to base their divided calculations— where 
there is any possibility of such a happy termination 
cf the twelvemonth’s operations. It will not be out 
of place, therefore, if we give some particulars with 
reference to ihe production of gold from the three 
leading Indian mines. We do so with the greatest 
pleasure as th properties are yielding well up to 
the expectations we have often expressed, even when 
the gold mining industry of Southern India was 
at such a low ebl> that Mysore shareholders flung 
away their holdings at 3s. or 4s. each; and in- 
t' lligent and enterprising men like the late Sir 
William Abbott; to say nothing of the Messrs. Taylor, 
Sir Charles Tennant, and other believers in the 
value of the Mysore Goldfield, were regarded by 
many people fts misguided aud sanguine visionaries, 
