I Once Saw A Moorman, Who Was A Fine
Powerful Fellow And An Excellent Elephant-Tracker, Who Had A Narrow
Escape From A Bear.
He was cutting bamboos with a catty or kind of
bill-hook, when one of these animals descended from a tree just above
him and immediately attacked him.
The man instinctively threw his left
arm forward to receive the bear, who seized it in his mouth and bit the
thumb completely off, lacerating the arm and wrist at the same time in a
frightful manner. With one blow of the bill-hook the Moorman cleft the
bear's skull to the teeth, at the same time gashing his own arm to the
bone by the force of the blow; and he never afterwards recovered the
proper use of the limb.
The Ceylon bear feeds upon almost anything that offers; he eats honey,
ants, fruit, roots, and flesh whenever he can procure it: his muscular
power is enormous, and he exerts both teeth and claws in his attack.
They are very numerous in Ceylon, although they are seldom met with in
any number, owing to their nocturnal habits, which attract them to their
caves at break of day.
After strolling over the country for some miles, we came upon fresh
elephant-tracks in high grass, which we immediately followed up. In the
course of half an hour, after tracking them for about two miles through
open country, we entered a fine forest, in which the herd had retired;
but our hopes of meeting them in this favourable ground were suddenly
damped by arriving at a dense chenar jungle in the very heart of the
forest. This chenar extended for some acres, and rose like a hedge,
forming a sudden wall of thorns, which effectually checked our advance.
The elephants had retired to this secure retreat, and having winded us
they kept up an uninterrupted roaring. I never heard such a musical
herd: the deep and thunder-like growls, combined with the shrill trumpet
and loud roars, as they all joined in concert, had a particularly grand
effect, and a novice in elephant-shooting would have felt his heart beat
in double time.
There was a rogue consorting with this herd, and it was necessary to be
particularly cautious in the attack. It was impossible to enter such
thick jungle, and I've waited for some hours in the forest, close to the
edge of the chenar, trying every dodge in vain to induce the herd to
quit their stronghold. They were continually on the QUI VIVE. Sometimes
a tremendous rush would be heard in the thick jungle as the herd would
charge towards us; but they invariably stopped just upon the borders,
and would not venture into the open forest. On one occasion I thought we
had them: they rushed to the edge of the thick jungle, and suddenly
filed off to the left and halted in a line within a few feet of the
forest. We were within six paces of them, concealed behind the trunks of
several large trees, from which we could discover the dim forms of six
elephants through the screen of thorns, which had a similar effect to
that produced by looking through a gauze veil. For some moments they
stood in an attitude of intense attention, and I momentarily expected
them to break cover, as we were perfectly still and motionless in our
concealed position. Suddenly they winded us, and whisked round to the
thick jungle, disappearing like magic.
We now tried the effect of bullying, and we sent men to different parts
of the jungle to shout and fire guns; this stirred up the wrath of the
rogue, and he suddenly burst from the thick jungle and rushed into the
open forest right among us. We were both standing behind the trees; and
the gun-bearers, with the exception of Wallace, had thrown the guns down
and had bolted up the trees when they heard the rush of the elephant
through the jungle; thus, upon his arrival in the open forest, he could
see no one, and he stood gazing about him with his ears cocked and tail
on end, not knowing exactly what to do, but ready to charge the first
person that showed himself. He was an immense elephant, being one of the
largest that I have ever seen, and he had as fine an expression of vice
in his appearance as any rogue could wish for. Suddenly he turned his
trunk towards us, but he was puzzled as to the exact position of any
one, as so many men were scattered among the trees. I was within twenty
yards of him, and he turned his head towards the spot, and was just on
the move forward, when I anticipated his intentions by running up to him
and knocking him over by a shot in the forehead, which killed him.
Unfortunately the herd at the same moment broke cover on the opposite
side of the jungle, and escaped without a shot being fired at them. It
was nearly dusk, and we were five miles from the tent; we were therefore
obliged to give them up.
The next morning, at daybreak, I rode out with the greyhounds, Killbuck,
Bran and Lena, to kill a deer. The lemon grass was so high at this
season that the dogs had no chance, and I was therefore compelled to
pick out some spot which was free from this grass, and employ beaters to
drive the jungles, instead of stalking the deer in the usual manner. I
tracked a herd of deer into a large detached piece of cover, and,
sending the beaters round to the opposite side, I posted myself with the
greyhounds in the slips behind a clump of trees, upon a small plain of
low, soft grass.
The noise of the beaters approached nearer and nearer, and presently two
splendid bucks with beautiful antlers rushed from the jungle about two
hundred yards from me, and scudded over the plain.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 63 of 90
Words from 63200 to 64206
of 91283
