So ended the famous Tortugas bullfight.
ROGUE ELEPHANTS.
SOME years ago, a famous hunter, traveling through India in search of amusement and information, was met by a deputation of natives from a small village, who asked his protection from an elephant that had taken up its residence near their town. Not only had the great animal again and again destroyed their crops, but it had killed several men. Altogether, the elephant was the terror of the large and formerly prosperous community.
The hunter assured the natives that he would try to destroy their enemy, and he at once made his preparations. The stranger was an experienced elephant hunter, having followed the great beasts wherever found, in Africa, Ceylon, and India. He knew at once that this troublesome fellow was what is known as a "rogue," a term given to elephants that are vicious, not simply roguish—brutes that try to destroy everything, especially the property and lives of men.
First, he must learn, if possible, the ways and habits of this especial rogue, and, with that object in view, he consulted the headmen and hunters of several villages. One man said that the rogue was possessed of an evil spirit; that on one day it would visit one locality, and on the next day be heard of many miles away. As to its actions, the man said, it suddenly came from a dense jungle near his native town, and dashed through the streets at midday, tearing houses to pieces, throwing them into the air, and utterly wrecking the neighborhood. It also killed several people, after which it was seen quietly feeding in the gardens near the town.
Another native told a similar story. This time the rogue appeared at night, broke down fences, and destroyed the crops. When fired upon, it rushed into a small village, doing much damage, and driving the inhabitants to the woods. Still another man reported that for weeks a public road between two villages had been deserted by every one, because the rogue had taken possession. The man added that at the time of the hunter's coming the elephant was destroying the rice fields about the town, the people being powerless to prevent him.
This evidence was sufficient to show that the elephant was a sly and vicious rogue, and must be approached with caution. Ten or fifteen elephants that could be relied upon were engaged, and also a force of experienced beaters and drivers. Early one morning the party set out for the capture of the rogue, then supposed to be about thirty miles away.
Their march led them across country, and on their way they saw how easily elephants can overcome difficulties of all kinds. Who would suppose for a moment that so huge and ungainly an animal would be entirely at home in the water? Yet few animals are more so. Upon the first day of the march all the elephants were obliged to swim a deep river; and they plunged in with every evidence of satisfaction. While swimming, their huge bodies were entirely covered; the tips of the trunks alone, through which the big animals breathed, occasionally appeared above the water. They would now and then raise their eyes also above the surface.
As each elephant carried a mahout, or driver, and sometimes several passengers besides, looked at from a distance the appearance of the line was, to say the least, remarkable. The drivers appeared to be walking through the water, though in reality they stood upright upon the elephants' backs, steadying themselves by ropes attached to their neck or tusks.
"Their huge bodies were entirely covered."
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The elephants proved themselves equally proficient in sliding down hill, changing themselves into animated toboggans. The road finally brought the hunters to a cliff so steep that few horsemen would have cared to risk their horses upon it; but with elephants it was a different matter. An old and trustworthy animal, being selected as leader, cautiously stepped over the side and upon the incline. Here it doubled back its hind legs, stretched its fore legs straight out, and rapidly slid down, making a good path for those that followed.
<!-- image -->The rest adopted the same tactics, and safely reached the plain below.
Plunging into the forest again, the party pushed on, finally reaching the neighborhood in which the rogue was supposed to be hiding. The hunter found that the villagers had told no more than the truth. The people were in a state of terror, not knowing at what moment the huge animal might rush out upon them. The night before it had been seen feeding in the rice fields, and probably it was then not far away. After seeing his men and elephants established in camp, the hunter went with the headman of the village to look over the ground.
The native was greatly excited, and told some marvelous stories about the elephant and its doings. He showed the newcomers a field where the fences had been razed to the ground and trampled to pieces, and the crops eaten or destroyed. The rogue had been there the previous night, and as it would return again to continue its feast upon what was left, the sportsman decided to await it there. In the center of a patch of grain was a framework platform or scaffolding, built by the natives, to serve the purpose of a scarecrow. It was large enough for a few natives to stand upon. They frightened away birds or beasts by beating tam-tams and making other loud noises.
The hunter informed the native that he would station himself on the scaffolding that evening, and shoot the rogue when it came to finish its meal. The headman shook his head, and replied that it was a place of great danger; but the sportsman insisted, and night found him lying upon the scaffolding with several gun bearers, while others were hidden about the field.
The rogue usually appeared at about nine o'clock; but that hour passed, and midnight came, without signs of it. As the hours passed on, the watchers began to think that possibly the animal had made one of its sudden marches and was now far away.
Suddenly a snort was heard, and the next moment a big form could be made out standing among the vegetation. It was the rogue elephant. It had approached so quietly that no one had heard it. The sportsman leveled his heavy rifle, and, when he saw a good opportunity, fired. The answer was a snort, seemingly of defiance, while the animal charged in the direction from which the flash appeared. Finding only the scaffolding, the rogue seized it and with a single wrench hurled it to the ground. Fortunately, the men were thrown several yards away, and, falling among the vegetation, were not injured. While they made their way to cover, the rogue rushed off into the woods. That it was wounded they discovered the following day, and on a subsequent occasion the animal was killed by the intrepid hunter, who might easily have lost his life at the time the scaffolding was pulled down.
Elephant shooting for sport is becoming a thing of the past in India, the only elephants now hunted for pleasure being these rogues—animals that are dangerous to the community. The complete history of rogue elephants would make interesting reading. They seem to have decided to avenge man's wrongs against their kind. Some years ago one rogue actually took possession of a stretch of country in India forty miles wide by one hundred long, and in a businesslike way proceeded to demolish everything in or about it. The animal rushed into the villages, took huts upon its tusks and tore them apart, or tossed them until they fell in splinters. It chased the people away or killed them whenever it could, or, standing by the wrecked houses, it ate the grain and other stores.
This elephant seemed remarkably intelligent. It entertained, in particular, a dislike for the watchtowers, or scaffolds. Whenever this rogue saw one, it would creep on slyly, spring at it, push it to the ground, and kill its occupants.
A famous elephant named "Mandla" was once owned by a rich man near Jubbulpore, in central India. Suddenly it began to develop the characteristics of a rogue, and attacked human beings wherever seen. It killed them so cruelly that it became widely known as "the man-eater." It was finally destroyed by an organized effort of English army officers.
An elephant known in India as the "Kakankote" rogue took possession of a tract about eight miles long in a region of that name, and for months devastated the fields and defied the natives. It terrified the people so that a stretch of road between Mysore and Wynaad was deserted and given over to this elephantine highwayman; for a highwayman it was, ready to pounce upon every one who passed that way. The native authorities for a long time stationed a guard at the entrance of the district to warn all travelers; and finally the people applied to the government for aid. After being hunted for five months, this rogue was shot.
Another famous rogue took possession of a public road and attacked every passer-by. Suddenly darting from the jungle, it would rush up to an ox cart, seize the driver with its trunk, and disappear. Repeated raids of this kind so terrified the people that a large tract of land was to all intents and purposes deserted; but finally an English hunter determined to rid the country of the rogue. By careful inquiry he found that the elephant always seized the driver, and if there were two carts in company, it chose the driver of the last. So he arranged two ox carts, putting a dummy driver upon the second, while upon the first was a stout bamboo cage, in which the hunter was to sit, rifle in hand. When all was ready the two ox carts started, one day, followed by the best wishes of the community. The fatal district was soon reached, and, about halfway down the road, there came a crash, and the monstrous elephant, dark and ugly, dashed upon the party. Making directly for the last cart, with a vicious swing of its trunk it seized the dummy man and made off, receiving as it went a shot from the cage. But the oxen, alarmed by the uproar, ran away, leaving the road and taking to the open country. They tipped the cart over, nearly killing the driver and the caged English sportsman. What the elephant thought when it tore the dummy into shreds must be imagined. Some months later this rogue was driven away and caught.
In 1847 the Rangbodde Pass, that led to the famed health resort of Neuera-Ellia, Ceylon, was captured by a rogue elephant. It seized every native who passed that way, closing the roadway as completely as if a regiment of soldiers had been placed there with orders to slay all human beings who tried to go through the pass. One of the last acts of the elephant was to charge upon the cavalcade of a native trader who had never heard of the rogue. The trader succeeded in escaping, but his attendant coolie was seized and dashed to the ground, after which the rogue turned its attention to the stock of goods, coolly inspecting and destroying them, piece by piece. After slaying a number of natives, this rogue was killed by an English sportsman.
An acquaintance of Sir Emerson Tennent, a Cingalese gentleman, had a narrow escape from a rogue that had earned a very unsavory reputation in its neighborhood. The elephant suddenly rushed upon the party from behind a small hill. First it caught an attendant with its trunk, and hurled him to the ground; then it seized the Cingalese, throwing him upward with such force that he landed in the high branches of a tree, safe and sound, with the exception of a dislocated wrist.