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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1921)
Perils of Trapping An Elephant Herd in Trengganu iii ii i ' in i i i 1 1 i it" ' " ' 'I J By CHARLES MAYER. : IUuitcstloni by Will Crawford. , . ' I waited on the beach at Treng ganu for a few minutes, until the German steamer was well out of the way; then I sent my Chinese boy into the village to' ' engage living quarters. He returned presently with the information that a. Chinese trader had offered to put me up, Ali and I followed him up the street of the village, with a' group of in quisitive natives at our heels. , Soon after I had finished my first meal at the trader's house, a tunku (petty prince) appeared with his followers. The meeting was solemn and formal, and he went througn the ritual of inquiring after my health, though I could see that in quisjtiveness was gnawing At him. At last he asked bluntly what my ' object was in coming to Trengganu. "I have come to see the Sultan on important business." . He told me that it would be ira- v possible for me to see the Sultan and offered to deliver my message. I waved him aside and told him that 1 must see the Sultan personally, . "Impossible," he replied, and de parted in the direction of the palace. The palace was a half-finished, two story brick dwelling. The Sultan had never been able to gather enough money to have the building . completed; but, at that, it was the ' most imposing house in Trengganu. An hour later. I started out with Ali and the Chinese boy for the palace, to pay my respects to the Sultan and make another request for an interview. At the gate I was met by a tunku, who told me that the Sultan would not receive me. I re turned to the trader's house and slept through the hot afternoon. When evening came, I went again to the palace and met with the same recep tion. Twice a day for an entire week I called at the palace. I appeared to be making no headway, but I had been associated with the Malays long enough to know that the Sultan could not bear, the strain much longer. Also, knew that if. I gave a tunku the least inkling of my pur pose all my hopes ot hunting in Trengganu would be wrecked. 'The Sultan gave in at last; he sent word to the gate that he would re ceive me, and I was ushered into the "reception room" of the palace. The Sultan, a middle-aged, scholarly looking man, was waiting for me, with his retinue squatted around him. I gave him my card. "What is it?" he asked. My name," I replied, bowing. "What country are you from?" "America." 'At last he lost interest in Amer ica ana asked why I had come to Trengganu. I told him I had come to trap animals and I wanted his per mission. He shook his head and re plied that there were no animals in Trengganu. "Ii yon will send your messenger out," I answered,' "you will find that an immense herd of elephants is crossing from Fahang into your country. "How do you knowJ" ; "I heard." . It was a Malay an swer, and I could see that he was interested. A roaming herd of ele phants is dangerous; it spoils rice crops, terrorizes the natives and most important of all-reduces the sultan's income. He ordered coffee and Malay cakes and plunged into thought. The coffee was muddy and bitter, but I drank it, joyfully because I knew the sultan, being worried, would probably see trie wisdom of allow ing me to enter ts country ana capture the elephants. Also 1 sug tested that he would receive a bonus on each animal I captured. , He nodded and asked me to come to the palace the next day. Each day for three weeks I called on him and spent hours in telling him of my travels. And he told me something: of the worries ot be ing a sultan. He was afraid .that one of the big powers would estab lish a protectorate over Trengganu, depose him and reduce his people to slavery. He knew very little of foreigners, but he had come to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to keep them out What did I think wa the best plan? We held lone conferences, in which I en lightened him on the ways of white men. The subject of elephant hunt- mar scarcely came into the. conversa tions, but I knew that he had sent messengers out to see if there was any truth in my story about the herd crossing from Fahang. I was slow ly winninsr his confidence; every' thing depended upon- the truth of that rumor I had picked up in Singa pore. , Exactly three weeks after our first meeting, he greeted me with the words: "Tuan chakap betul (sir, you spoke the truth)." "I always speak the truth," I an swered, at if I were annoyed. The messengers had returned with the news that the herd, had been seen near the Pahang river. He asked what I proposed to do, and I drew a diagram of the trap I wanted to build. . He asked, if it would not be a better plan to shoot the big' elephants and capture the young. I put stress on the royalty payments he would receive, and thus I won him to my way of think ing. He assigned bis nephew Omar- a tunku to the duty of assisting me, and gave' him full power to force as much tabor as we might need. A few days later, Omar and I, accompanied by the sultan, sailed down the coast to the Pahang. It was a wide, deep river, infested with crocodiles; settlements dotted the banks. At each of these we stopped and called on the headmen to con script labor. Five days after leaving the capi tal, we arrived at the place where the herd had been located. We dis FOLLIES OF THE PASSING SHOW embarked. There followed two weeks of hunting; before we found the spoor that told us . we had reached the elephants. It was dense jungle; undergrowth, creepers and vines bound the trees together. The lack of sunlight and the dense atmosphere made progress slow. Sometimes the task of driv ing elephants on foot through such country seemed hopeless, but I kept the men at work, hacking out trails with parangs their big knives. J. he insects were frightful, and we were all covered with bites. 'I developed fever and went about so 'groggy' that I was not at all sure of my self: but huge doses of quinine and the excitement of tracking so large a herd kept me going. The scouts reported that the herd numbered about 1W. I assigned au men to surround the elephants and keep them moving in a circle within a definite area while we built the stockade. , . y. . The work of making the trap was prodigious. Trees, 20 to 25 feet in length and a foot and a half in diameter, were cut down and dragged through the jungle for half a mile or more to the spot I had selected. These were planted five feet in the ground and braced by three mal!cr trees, so that they could stand the enormous pressure of elephants try ing to lunge through -them. The trap was round about 75 feet in diameter with two wings, each 100 feet long, covering to the enterance. After planting and bracing all the posts, we bound them together with heavy ropes made of twisted rattan, and then covered them with vines and leaves. 1 In building the trap we took great care ' not to disturb the' jungle- through which the elephants were to be driven. Like all jungle animals, elephants can see at night, and there is always the danger of a stampede unless precautions are taken against arousing suspicion. The jungle leading up to the wings was un touched, and the wings and the trap could scarcely be distinguished from the dense growth that surrounded them. In the runaway and in the trap the jungle was still standing without injury. Word came from the men who were watching that the herd was four miles away. I gathered the na tives around me, explained all the details of the drive and assigned men to the various tasks. Then we start ed in a body to get behind the herd. Every 500 yards, I stationed a man in a tree to steer the drive. Driving elephants at night Is a slow, trying, dangerous job.. It means fighting every foot of the way through dense jungle and keeping dp a continual hubbub of tomtoms and shouts. The elephants wish to avoid the noise and they move slow ly away from it, crashing through the trees and vines. The men who are directly behind have the easiest time, for they can follow the trails broken by the elephants; those on THE BEE: OMAHA. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1921. X climbed to the platform the side must' cut trails with their parangs. No lights can be used, and care must be taken to avoid the little elephants, which roam about, investigating the noise. If they see a man and give the danger signal, the entire herd stampedes. When we arrived behind the here. and looked down into the trap. I spread the men out in a U forma tion, warning them to make no noise until the signal was given. With Ali standing near me with my ex press rifle, I waited until darknes came; then I gave the signal and started forward. Ali. Omar, the priest, my Chinese boy and a few By Hanlon There were 60 elephants. others followed along behind me, shouting. The noise was taken up on each side of us, and presently we heard the elephants moving for ward, throwing their great hulks against the jungle growths. Dawn came, and we found that w had driven them a mile and a half. It had been exhausting work. I posted guards to watch the herd, and we slept until late in the afternoon. Early the next day the stampede hit us without warning. A small ele phant, straying from the herd, saw some of the men on the right; he ran back, trumpeting danger. Then the bellowing herd came down upon US.'. ' ' , I.: . Ali shoved my rifle into my hands and Jumped behind a tree. The Siamese priest stumbled and fell. Be fore I could shoot," a big bull ele phant stepped on him and tore him in two, .throwing the upper portion of his body over my head. I was spat tered with blood. Elephants, bel lowing furiously, rushed past us; men 1 screamed and scrambled for places of safety. The immense ani mals loomed up in trie darkness for a second and then disappeared. In their excitement some collided with trees."". There was no need to shoot; it would have been like holding up a fan. to fend off a cyclone. I hugged my tree, keeping my gun in position. I was discouraged; our efforts had been wasted and the herd was scat tered. That would be a fine story to take back to the sultan. . When the elephants had passed, I called to the men. We lighted torches and searched for the injured. Three had been killed and 12 hurt, and I was thankful there weren't more casualties. We buried the dead. Ali brought up my medical kit and helped me dress the wounds. After a few hours' sleep, I found that I wasn't quite so discouraged, and so I called the men together and kctured them on the necessity of being careful Again I posted guides in the trees and spread out the drivers. Every man was alert, and, when night end ed, we were considerably nearer the trap. In the minds of the elephants there seemed to be no connection be tween the noise that was driving them and the men they had seen the night before, and they went ahead peaceably. - Leaving scouts to watch the herd, I gathered the men together and praised them. Success rekindled the enthusiasm that had been damped by the stampede, and, when we threw ourselves down to snatch a few hours sleep, we were convinced that the drive would proceed without trouble. At nightfall, each day, th? men were again in position, waiting for my signal; and, three nights later, we approached the stockade. The men went wild' with delight. And above the uproar, I could hear the calls of the guides in the .trees, tell ing as our distance from the trap. The big beasts jammed in the run way between the wings, heaving and struggling, and forcing those ahead of them into the trap. The Walls of the wings groaned as they threw their bodies against the posts. The elephants bellowed, and the natives kept up a continual pandemonium. I' mounted the platform and looked down; I could see nothing but a tossing flood of black that poured slowly from the runway into the trap. When the last elephant was in side, the ropes that held the gate were cut. The gate crashed down; bars were run through the sockets; the elephants were trapped. On my platform I shouted as loudly as any of the Malays, Torches were lighted and the men began dan cing. I slipped to the ground and warned them against climbing up on the walls of the stockade, for I was fearful that the sight of men might enrage the elephants. If the beasts suddenly took it into their heads to charge the wall in a body, some of the posts might give way. I could hear them milling around inside the trap, bellowing and tearing up the jungle in an effort to find a way out. Through the remainder of the night the natives danced, ate and drank. Then, when dawn was be ginning to light up the sky, I climbed to the platform again and looked down into the trap. There were 60 elephants I i Omar immediately sent a messen ger to the sultan with the good news, and the word passed from vil lage to village. Natives poured in to inspect the catch, and the mes senger returned with the newt that the sultan was on his way. It was a historic occasion in Trengganu. We cut holes in the rattan web bing between the posts and enticed the small elephants to come. out. There were several babies in the lot, and they soon became playful and affectionate. Baby elephants are just three feet high at birth and weigh 200 pounds. They grow an inch each month. We made pets of them. We did this by taking a pail of warm milk and dipping the babies' trunks into it, then - doubling the trunks up and putting them into their owners' mouths, and finally squirting milk in with a squirt gun. The sultan arrived with his retinue, and we gave him a ceremonial greet ing. The sultan remained several days, and we spent much of our time in talking over the problems of govern ment. These conversations ended by my becoming a sort of foreign adviser in all dealings with Euro pean countries. Later, before Trengganu was made a British pro tectorate, he awarded me some valu able tin concessions. The new ar rangement under the British govern ment was made satisfactorily; he re ceived a suitable pension and he passed happily into a purely honor ary position in his state, relieved of all the complexities of political ad ministration. When I last saw him, he was living in indolent comfort, surrounded by his wivesand hi two-story brick palace was at last completed. fCoftmt-ht, . br Ato Mifwta Print.4 t7 hwkmiI wMk MMnwU lu t n-MM ferric. Ww Xacfci.