Those Hunters Who Could Not Afford To Purchase Horses
Hunted On Foot, In Parties Not Exceeding Two Persons.
Their
method was to follow the tracks of an elephant, so as to arrive
at their game between the hours of 10 A.M. and noon, at which
time the animal is either asleep, or extremely listless, and easy
to approach.
Should they discover the animal asleep, one of the
hunters would creep stealthily towards the head, and with one
blow sever the trunk while stretched upon the ground; in which
case the elephant would start upon his feet, while the hunters
escaped in the confusion of the moment. The trunk severed would
cause an haemorrhage sufficient to insure the death of the
elephant within about an hour. On time other hand, should the
animal be awake upon their arrival, it would be impossible to
approach the trunk; in such a case, they would creep up from
behind, and give a tremendous cut at the back sinew of the hind
leg, about a foot above the heel. Such a blow would disable the
elephant at once, and would render comparatively easy a second
cut to the remaining leg; the arteries being divided, the animal
would quickly bleed to death. These were the methods adopted by
poor hunters, until, by the sale of ivory, they could purchase
horses for the higher branch of the art. Provided with horses,
the party of hunters should not exceed four. They start before
daybreak, and ride slowly throughout the country in search of
elephants, generally keeping along the course of a river until
they come upon the tracks where a herd or a single elephant may
have drunk during the night. When once upon the tracks, they
follow fast towards the retreating game. The elephants may be
twenty miles distant; but it matters little to the aggageers. At
length they discover them, and the hunt begins. The first step is
to single out the bull with the largest tusks; this is the
commencement of the fight. After a short hunt, the elephant turns
upon his pursuers, who scatter and fly from his headlong charge
until he gives up the pursuit; he at length turns to bay when
again pressed by the hunters. It is the duty of one man in
particular to ride up close to the head of the elephant, and thus
to absorb its attention upon himself. This insures a desperate
charge. The greatest coolness and dexterity are then required by
the hunter, who now, the HUNTED, must so adapt the speed of his
horse to the pace of the elephant, that the enraged beast gains
in the race until it almost reaches the tail of the horse. In
this manner the race continues. In the meantime, two hunters
gallop up behind the elephant, unseen by the animal, whose
attention is completely directed to the horse almost within his
grasp. With extreme agility, when close to the heels of the
elephant, one of the hunters, while at full speed, springs to the
ground with his drawn sword, as his companion seizes the bridle,
and with one dexterous two-handed blow he severs the back sinew.
He immediately jumps out of the way and remounts his horse; but
if the blow is successful, the elephant becomes disabled by the
first pressure of its foot upon the ground; the enormous weight
of the animal dislocates the joint, and it is rendered helpless.
The hunter who has hitherto led the elephant immediately turns,
and riding to within a few feet of the trunk, he induces the
animal to attempt another charge. This, clumsily made, affords an
easy opportunity for the aggageers behind to slash the sinew of
the remaining leg, and the immense brute is reduced to a
standstill; it dies of loss of blood in a short time, THUS
POSITIVELY KILLED BY ONE MAN WITH TWO STROKES OF THE SWORD!
This extraordinary hunting is attended with superlative danger,
and the hunters frequently fall victims to their intrepidity. I
felt inclined to take off my cap and make a low bow to the
gallant and swarthy fellows who sat before me, when I knew the
toughness of their hearts and the activity of their limbs. One of
them was disabled for life by a cut from his own sword, that had
severed the knee-cap and bitten deep into the joint, leaving a
scar that appeared as though the leg had been nearly off; he had
missed his blow at the elephant, owing to the high and tough
dried grass that had partially stopped the sword, and in
springing upon one side, to avoid the animal that had turned upon
him, he fell over his own sharp blade, which cut through the
bone, and he lay helpless; he was saved by one of his comrades,
who immediately rushed in from behind, and with a desperate cut
severed the back sinew of the elephant. As I listened to these
fine fellows, who in a modest and unassuming manner recounted
their adventures as matters of course, I felt exceedingly small.
My whole life had been passed in wild sports from early manhood,
and I had imagined that I understood as much as most people of
this subject; but here were men who, without the aid of the best
rifles and deadly projectiles, went straight at their game, and
faced the lion in his den with shield and sabre. There is a
freemasonry among hunters, and my heart was drawn towards these
aggageers. We fraternised upon the spot, and I looked forward
with intense pleasure to the day when we might become allies in
action.
I have been rewarded by this alliance in being now able to speak
of the deeds of others that far excel my own, and of bearing
testimony to the wonderful courage and dexterity of these
Nimrods, instead of continually relating anecdotes of dangers in
the first person, which cannot be more disagreeable to the reader
than to the narrator.
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