Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of India: Their Haunts and Habits from Personal Observations; with an Account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Elephants |
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Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India: Their Haunts and Habits from ... G. P. Sanderson No preview available - 2014 |
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amongst animals Assam attack bamboo bamboo-clump bears beast beaters Bengal bison Bommay Gouda bull bullock bushes camp Canarese captured carcass carried cattle charge cheeta cheroots Chittagong close commenced cover cubs Dacca danger distance dogs drams drive elephant-catching elephant-shooting elephant's escape feet Felida female fired fodder followed foot forest frequently gayal Gorrava grass ground gun-bearers half head heard heavy herd hundred yards hunt inches India Jaffer Jerdon jungle Kákankoté kheddah killed Kurrabas look mahout male elephant man-eater miles Morlay morning muckna Myanee Mysore natives neck never night nullah occasion panther panthers and leopards phants Poonjoor ravine rifle river rock ropes seen seized seldom Shōlagas shooting shot shoulder side solitary soon sport sportsman tent thick thicket tiger tigress trackers tracks tree trunk tusker tusks village W. W. Greener whilst wild elephants wounded young
Popular passages
Page 77 - These are no longer the property of a man, than while they continue in his keeping or actual possession : but if at any time they regain their natural liberty, his property instantly ceases ; unless they have animum revertendi, which is only to be known by their usual custom of returning h.
Page 14 - The few crocodiles that are found in the Mysore rivers very rarely attack people ; and fishermen — who pay no heed to them — have told me that if they come upon a crocodile whilst following their employment, it will skulk at the bottom and not move though handled, apparently believing it escapes observation. Crocodiles are, like all wild creatures, very timid where not encouraged, as is sometimes done by superstitious natives.
Page 269 - It is a pity to see the tiger proscribed and hunted to death by every unsportsmanlike method that can be devised, in response to popular outcries — chiefly in England — without foundation in fact, about his destructiveness. Trace out and slay every man-eater by all means possible, and at any expense ; but ordinary tigers are exceedingly inoffensive, and have their uses. May the day be far distant when the tiger shall become practically extinct ! 270 THE MAN-EATER, THE GAME-KILLER.
Page 62 - ... she gives suck, which she cannot readily do when tied to her picket. Tame elephants are never suffered to remain loose in India, as instances occur of the mother leaving even her young and escaping into the woods. Another circumstance deserves notice : if a wild elephant happens to be separated from her young for only two days, though giving suck, she never afterwards recognises it. This separation happened, sometimes, unavoidably, when they were enticed, separately, into the kiddah.
Page 189 - ... foreshortened, and appears to double in size with each advancing stride. The trunk being curled and unable to emit any sound, the attack is made in silence, after the usual premonitory shriek, which adds to its impressiveness. A tiger's charge is an undignified display of arms, legs, and spluttering ; the bison rushes blunderingly upon his foe ; the bear's attack is despicable ; but the wild elephant's onslaught is as dignified as it seems overwhelming — and a large tusker's charge, where he...
Page 58 - ... those which had fallen by the rifle. " The Singhalese have a superstition in relation to the close of life in the elephant : they believe that, on feeling the approach of dissolution, he repairs to a solitary valley, and there resigns himself to death.
Page 49 - Herds of elephants usually consist of from thirty to fifty individuals, but much larger numbers, even one hundred, are by no means uncommon. When large herds are in localities where fodder is not very plentiful, they divide into parties of from ten to twenty ; these remain separate, though within two or three miles of each other. But they all take part in any common movement, such as a march into another tract of forest. The different parties keep themselves informed at all times of each other's...
Page 81 - I have seen the cream of trained elephants at work in the catching-establishments in Mysore and Bengal ; I have managed them myself, under all circumstances ; and I can say that I have never seen one show any aptitude in dealing, undirected, with an unforeseen emergency.
Page iii - Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India ; their Haunts and Habits, from Personal Observation ; with an account of the Modes of Capturing and Taming Wild Elephants.
Page 79 - How has he acquired the knowledge of the incongruity of the two things, dirty water and clean linen ? He delights in water himself, and would therefore be unlikely to imagine it objectionable to another. If the elephant were possessed of the amount of discernment with which he is commonly credited, is it reasonable to suppose that he would continue to labour for man instead of turning into the nearest jungle ? The elephant displays less intelligence in its natural state than most wild animals.