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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1921)
I JlfnLinn T nrtn Tliti in "SJSnhtc J rrtnnr By CHARLES MAYER. UlustnUoiu by WU1 Crawford.'' Elephants are easily trained and, when they once get the idea of what is expected of them, they will do it over and over with little variation. A trick or a certain kind of work im mediately becomes a habit with them. In fact, they can form habits more rapidly than any other animals I have ever seen. In Burma there are large lumber mills, and elephants are used for rolling the logs into position for the saws. Pushing with their heads, they run the logs up two inclined skids to the platform. Two elephants do the pushing and a third elephant acts as boss. The boss need not be an espe cially intelligent animal; he is sim ply taught that the log must go up the skids in a certain way and that the two pushers must be kept even. In his trunk he carries a few links - of anchor chain, which he uses as a whip. If one elephant falls behind, the boss gives him a rap with the chain. When the log is on the plat form, the pushers turn and plod back for another. The boss elephant is quite unimpressed by his authority, and the others show no resentment when he swings the chain on them. "When the whistle blows, the ele phants know that it is time to stop work and eat It makes no difference if they have a log within a fraction of an inch of the platform; the boss drops his anchor chain and gets out of the way, and the pushers step to one side, letting the log crash down again. Then, without the least ex pression of interest, they turn for the stalls. Because they obey signals so mechanically, the engineer steps out, when feeding-time comes, and looks up and down the runway to see if an elephant crew has a log on the skids. If so, he waits until it reaches the platform before he pulls the whistle cord. The great weight and bulk of elephants sometimes make difficult the problem of handling and espe cially of shipping them. They are usually hoisted over the side of the ship in slings, but that method takes much time and labor, not to speak of very strong tackle. I did not evolve a new one, however, until the refusal of the captain of one of the British India Steam Navigation company's boats to take a consign ment of elephants for me put my in genuity to the test I was under contract to send 15 large elephants to Madras, and I had arranged with the company's agent at Singapore for three shipments of five each. The animals were the re mainder of the Trengganu herd and I was anxious to see them shipped, for I was still sick with the fever. The doctor had told me that the best thing I could do was to leave the Country and recuperate, and any de lay in disposing of the animals meant a great sacrifice - of either money or health. The first five elephants, together with attendants and food, were wait ins; back of the sheds at Tanjong Pagar, the docks at Singapore, to W put os board. At the last mo- T on cr f-Vmnrps in thp Animal TVaWs Camp ment the chief officer came with the message that the captain refused to take them. a I went to the captain's cabin and found a stout, red-faced and appar ently good-natured Englishman. He was just out of his bath, wearing pajamas and idling about in his cabin until the ship was ready to get under way. I thought it a good time to approach him, and I took care to be quite calm and cool about it, although I was raging inside. I showed him my receipt and the bill of lading given me by the agent. He replied that the agent was not captain of the ship; he didn't care what agreement the agent had made. So long as he was captain, he'd run his ship to suit himself, and all agents could go to the devil, for all he cared. And, moreover, he'd not carry ele phants not for any one. I explained my position and told him that it would mean a great financial loss to me if I failed on my contract to de liver the elephants. "Look here, Mayer," he said, "I've handled elephants at Calcutta and I've always had a lot of trouble with them. If I load these elephants, it means that I have to rig up extra gear, and I won't do it." "Captain," I replied, "I'll load those elephants without using a foot of rope. I'll put them anywhere you fay, and you won't have to rig up a bit of gear. And I'll unload them at Madras in the same way. Will you say the word?" "I don't think you can do it," he answered, "but I'm enough of a sportsman to give you a chance." ' That was all I wanted. I got out before he could ask me how I was going to work, for I couldn't have told him. The elephants were to go in the bow and they had to be taken there through a seven-foot passage from amidships. The smallest of the ele phants measured fully seven feet and the largest more than eight I de cided that we might as well try the largest first, and I asked that the electric bulbs be removed from the ceiling. After some coaxing and prodding, we got the first elephant up the gangplank. The others followed obediently. Then I asked the chief officer to clear the cabins along the passage, for I was afraid that some one might open a door and frighten the elephant. A frightened, stam peded, eight-foot elephant in a seven foot passage would give Singapore enough excitement to last for a year. The chief officer sent the people from the cabins and locked the doors. The elephant balked at sight of the passage. I was at his head, talk ing to him and coaxing him, and two attendants were behind, prod ding. We made him kneel and then urged him forward. At last we got him into the passage. It was a tight fit His sides scraped the walls. I gasped at the thought of what would happen if he suddenly became afraid. He would try to stand up, of course, and then, wedged in, he would begin to kick and lunge his way out; and the other four, who were close be side him, would do the same, "And FOLLIES OF THE PASSING SHOW then, good-bye, steamship," I said to myself. Slowly we made our way forward, with the five elephants hob bling along on their knees. I stayed close to the head of the first, talk ing to him and petting him. Finally we came to the end of the passage, and I drew the first deep breath in 15 minutes. I took the venture sim ply as a matter of course, and I didn't say anything that gave the captain an idea of what my emotions had been in that passage; but Ali looked at me and I looked at Ali, and there was no need of words. I washed and went to the captain's tabin for breakfast, while the men secured the elephants in their quar ters. - " The captain said, "Mayer, that was the quickest and slickest thing I've The cage broke and out went ing and a panic started. ever seen, but what am I going to do with those animals at Madras?" I knew that there were no docks at Madras and that all freight was unloaded into lighters, but I an swered, "My men will attend to them." When the ship reached Madras, the attendants opened the doors and simply backed the elephants over board. They hit the water with a great splash and a roar and came up blowing like whales. They were swimming, of course, for elephants swim better than any other land ani mals I have ever seen. The attend ants approached them in rowboats, and, jumping on their backs, rode them to shore. By the time they reached land, they had completely recovered from the excitement of falling overboard. f " By the time I had disposed of the last of my elephants, I was so sick with fever that I could not leave my bed. I was dangerously ill and I began to realize that I should be lucky if I escaped with my life. Mr. Lambert, who had been my friend ever since I landed at Sin- THE BEE: OMAHA, SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 13. 1921. gapore to enter the animal business, engaged passage for me on a steam er bound for Europe and took charge of the affairs of my animal house in Orchard Road. When it was time to go to the steamer, my Chinese coolie boy carried me. He is the only Chinese I have ever seen cry; the tears rolled ' down his cheeks as he carried me up the gang plank and to my cabin, for he thought that he should never sec me again. I rather thought so my self, but I figured that if they didn't drop me into the Red Sea, which is the last resting-place of so many people who have stayed too long in the tropics, I should recover and live to return. Ali and the coolie waited faith fully for me during the next year. Mr. Leopard like a flash of lightning, while I traveled in Europe and America, recuperating and gather ing new commissions for animals. And, when I came back, they were on the dock to welcome me. Though my health was much im proved by the voyage, I did not feel able to resume the active busi ness of collecting, and so I concen trated my efforts upon my animal house and made it the largest place of its kind. I had a monopoly ot the business. Mahommed Ariff, who had a large number of native col lectors working for him, did much of his dealing through me, and I had no difficulty in disposing of all the animals brought in from the jungles by our various agents. My largest market was Australia, where I could sell the animals f. o. b. Singapore without any of the risk of trans portation. Also, I made shipments to Hagenbeck, of Germany, and Cross of Liverpool. Because of the high import duty, I sent compara tively few of my animals to the United States. John Anderson, who was Euro pean adviser to the kins of Siam and who had been cheated a Siamese nobleman, sent for me and offered me a commission that kept me busy for the next five years.. The king of Siam was in the habit of making presents of wild animals to foreign rulers, and it became my work to select the animals and supervise all details of shipment. I was sent to interview the minister of t he inter ior, H. H. Prince Damerong, who gave me a permit to travel wherever I pleased in Siam and to force labor. In Siam. I directed many hunts, es pecially for tuskers to be used in the teak forests. The driving wa3 done entirely during the daytime, and on elephants, instead of on foot, as in Trengganu. The fever had left nt in bad condition, and so I lid not take an active part in the work. The Chinese saw him corn- On my trips between Bangkok ana Singapore, I stopped off many times at Trengganu to renew my ac quaintance with the sultan and to talk with the native hunters, who were sending a steady stream of ani mals to me at Singapore. I was known to the natives throughout the peninsula as Tuan Gajah Sir Ele phant and I was amused to find that the story of the big elephant hunt had grown to incredible pro portions. After one exciting incident in the work of shipping animals for the king of Siam, I was allowed full au thority. We were sending a pair of beautifully matched leopards to the emperor of Austria, and they had reached Singapore in two large, poor ly constructed cages. Mr. Anderson was there, and we disagreed on the advisability of recaging them. I thought that the cages looked weak and wished to have my Chinese car penter build two that would- be smaller and stronger. Mr. Ander son, however, was impatient to start the leopards on their voyage, and, since be was boss, we loaded the By Hanlon cages on bullock carts and headed for the docks. In unloading one of the bullock carts, the natives allowed the case to slide to the ground too heavily; the cage broke and out went Mr. Leopard like a flash of lightning, heading straight for the Chinese quarter. The Chinese saw him com ing, and a panic started. They tumbled over one another in getting out of the way, and two of them were scratched. The leopard was quite as frightened as any of thf Chinese. The natives in charge of the bullock cart came running for me, and I went to the Chinese quar ter to find the leopard. He had taken refuge in a house, and I finally dis covered him hiding under the stairs, his eyes shining in the darkness. Since it was impossible to get rid of the mob of Chinese, and recaging under the circumstances would have been too dangerous, we had to shoot the animal. We took the other leopard back to Orchard road and built a new cage. , In 1902, just before the rainy sea son, I was resting in Singapore after six months of hard work. Just as I had almost decided to go to Europe, I happened to see in an old copy of the New York Clipper an adver tisement of a steam merry-go-round. That gave me an idea; there had never been a merry-go-round in the Malay peninsula, and I was confident enough of my judgment of Malay na ture to gamble that it would be a success. I went to Hongkong and Shanghai bank and cabled $2,000 in gold to the factory at North Tona wanda, N. Y., with instructions to ship me the merry-go-round on the first boat, via London. It arrived nine weeks later, and it cost -me 110 in freight. The rain was beat ing down steadily in Singapore, and so I transshipped it to Penang. A few days later, I was in Penang, driving around in a rickshaw, looking for a good location, while the merry-go-round, still in crates, was coming ashore in sampans. Opposite the Hotel de la Paix I found a good open space, and I routed out of bed the Chinese merchant who owned it. We were not long in closing a bar gain. lwas to pay him a rental of 51 Mexican a day and to have an option of two months on the lot I began business on the Chinese New Year's day. Within six weeks I had made up the entire cost of the merry-go-round and I was on velvet. The dimes were still rolling in as fast as I could col lect them. Finally, when the nov elty of my show had worn off and business began to slacken. I shipped to Rangoon, Burma, to collect dimes there. After ' the merry-go-round had been running two -eeks, I was approached by a man who wished to buy me out I had all the fun I wanted, and so I sold it to him for 10.000 rupee $4,500 in gold. At my animal house I found a let ter from Mr. La Seuf. the director of the Perth Zoological Gardens, saying that he was anxious to get a rhin oceros and asking what I could do for him. I did not want to bo into CopyrigK iStl, by the jungle again immediately, for I was afraid of a return of the fev er, but I replied that I would see what could be done and I sent out word to all my native agents. Both Mr. La Seuf and his father, who was director of the gardens at Mel bourne, were great friends of mine, and their gardens had been my best market for animals. Quite natur ally, I wanted to do everything I could to help them, and so, when word came from an agent in Treng ganu that some rhinoceroses had been locajcd there, I packed up my kit and started out. At Trengganu, the sultan welcom ed me, and I spent several days with him, telling him what was happen ing in the world and discussing his problems. The problems were large ly financial. He owed some mone.y, and, knowing that he had something in the treasury, I asked why he did not pay his debts. He thought for a time and then re plied: "Well, I'll tell you. If I pay those people, they will forget about the sultan of Trengganu. If I donh pay them, they'll never forget me."i The conversation turned to the subject of prisoners. On my way to the palace I had passed the cages where the prisoners were kept. Many of them were starving to death, for, unless their friends or family cared for them, they got no food. "Why don't you feed them?" I asked. "Why should I?" he replied. "If I feed them my whole country will want to ko to jail. ' Finally, after he had satisfied his craving for sociability, he gave me my official permit to go into the in terior and to force labor. I started out for the upper end of his state, bordering on Lower Siam. At the mouth of the River Stew, I found my agent' we gathered a crew of l'j men and went up the river as far as we could. When the weeds be came so thick that we could not force the boats through, we took to the jungles and began cutting our way to the mud-puddle where the rhinoceroses came to wallow. We took great precautions in ap proaching the puddle, for once a rhinoceros gets the scent of a hun ter, he is off through the jungle as fast as he can go. The huner, who spots his animal and shoots, has an easy time of it; but the collector, who must capture, has a more diffi cult job. He must work and build his trap at the very spot frequented by the animal and he must do so without exciting suspicion A rhinoceros seldom charges when he sees a man, and his charge is not dangerous, for he is shortsighted and cannot gauge his direction ac curately. Most often, he runs, and it is almost impossible, even when the collector can find him again, to chase or lure him back to the trap. . No animals 'were at the puddle when we arrived, and I had a good opportunity to examine the location. Then we withdrew and I told the men how we should go about mak ing the capture. We made camp, building platforms between the trees for Lvina-ouartert. and I detailed Tublio Ledger Company some of the men to the work on a rattan net, which measured 20 by 15 feet, with meshes 10 inches square. I felt that we had a good chance of getting a rhinoceros in a net-trap and should save ourselves much time and labor if we could do so. When the net was ready, we put it in posi tion at a likely-looking approach half on the ground, where the animal would step into it, and half sus pended, so that he would catch It with his head and bring it down about him. Then we turned our attention to making pits. As I have explained before, a heavy animal was sure to injure himself in falling into a square pit such as the natives generally dug, and, of course, an injured animal would have been of no use to me. Hence the four pits that we dug around the puddle were made wedge shaped, instead of square. They were six feet at the top and tapered to three feet at the bottom; they were eight feet deep and 10 feet long, with the approach tapering down so there would be the least possible change that the beast would injure himself wTien he fell. Over the tops of the pits we built platforms of bamboo poles, and cov ered them with mud and leaves, taK ing care to leave no traces of our work. To the building of each pit we gave a whole day of hard labor and we were constantly on tne aicrt might surprise us. Lookouts weie already stationed to catch the sounds of the beasts as they croKe inrougn the jungle, coming to their bath. One mofning a native came run ning with the news that a rhinoceros was trapped. We gathered our tools and hurried off to the puddle. There, grunting and fighting, lay a two-ton rhinoceros, firmly wedged in and helpless. When he saw us, he be came furious, squirming in the slime of the pit, pounding with his feet and grunting. I divided my crew, putting half at building a cage of heavy timbers and the others at digging away the ground in front of the beast. By the time the cage was put together and bound securely w'ith rattan, we had an incline running down to the pit, with two feet of earth walling the rhinoceros in. Then we placed skids on the incline and let the case slide down. A native, who had been sent back to the nearest kampong, or native village, to recruit men and water-buffaloes, had soon returned with a score of other natives, driv ing six waterburlaloes before .them. Then I went through the usual busi ness of holding a meeting and ex plaining carefully, in the greatest de tail, exactly what we were about to do and how we were to do it; what each man was to do and when and how. When they understood per fectly, we set about dieein? iwv me wall that separated tne rhinoceros from the open end of the cage. With a little more than one foot of earth remain ing, we -began to prod him. The im mense beast pounded his feet on the bottom of the pit grunting and mo