THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 30 March 1904, Page 68

THE NATURALIST.

Some Famous Flepliants

The death of the clever elephant trainer, Mr George Lockhart, who was accidentally killed by his favourite elephant, which beeamo nervous, and in her rapid movements crushed 1 him against a railway truck, recalls to my mind vividly a number of exciting- scenes in relation to elephants. The first -occurrence of the kind that I remember took place at the old Exeter Change, which existed in the Strand in the beginning of last century. In 1826 a grand old elephant named Chuny became "must," as it is termed, in a period of excitement which occurs in mature elephants. In the small cage in which I frequently saw him, and fed him during- my boyhood, proper exercise was impossible. The animal was under good control at ordinary time.?, and capable of performing many tricks, one of which I well remember was the picking up of a sixpence or shilling from the floor and 1 putting it in a, email box or drawer at the top of his den. This was a joke often practised by the keeper, who asked anyone to throw down a small coin, and told the elephant to pick it up and 1 place it in the drawer. The innocent spectator, after waiting vainly for its return, asked the keeper to request the elephant to do so ; but the reply usually was that they had. not yet succeeded in teaching: ■him that part of the trick, which

was iisually met with a loud bu'-st of laughv ter from the s-pectators, and the innocent countryman went away minus his coin. Ohuny was at most times well under control, but became "must" and dangerous, making an attempt to destroy his den, so that it wa-5 found necessary to kill him. This was performed by a number of men, including some soldiers, who fired numerous bullets into his head; but not being acquainted with the anatomy of the animal, most of them sent their bullets into tha forehead, where they rested in the structure of the frontal bone., not leaching the brain, and a large number of shots were fired befove he was killed. To show how perfectly the animal was undar control, at the command of his keeper, even while being thus killed, he knelt so as to expose the sideinstead of the front of his head.

The most remarkable incident connected with unruly elephants that I recollect was> that which occurred 22 years ago at the Zoological Gardens, when Jumbo becamo so unruly that the lale Mr Bartl&tt provided himself with an elephant gun carrying a. very large bullet, in order to shoot Jumbo if necessary. Mr Bartlett was sufficiently well acquainted with anatomy to hays been sure of penetrating the brain at a single shot, and; ho was present at the shooting of Chuny in 1826. Jumbo was one of tho» largest African elephants. He couid noS walk without lowering his baok through the* tunnel connecting the Gardens. Becoming" "nriut," the council judiciously resolved to part with him, and sold him to Mr Barnum for £2000. The public became excited with tho thought of losing him, and behaved in the most silly manner on the occasion, the excitement being due to the absurd influence of a popular paper, the reporter of which was requested by the lady who had! the sale of bun-s, of which large numbers were soldi to feed the creature, not to let Jumbo go away. During his stay, after being sold, thousands went to see him, and tho most ridiculous presents were sent to him, amongst others many barrels- of oysters, which were consumed by Mr Bartlett. The excitement grew so high that the majority of the press had articles respecting it. I felt it my duty to write about tho facts of the case in the Field of February, 1882, and have now lying before me a letter from the late Sir William Flower, then president of the Zoological Society, and afterwards principal of the British Museum, in which he thanks me for my article in the* Field, saying-.— "l have read with great pleasure your most interesting and sensible, letter in to-day's Fieldi, and am glad to sec* that it has been more or loss completelyextractedl in many of the daily papers. It i? a refreshing contrast to the marvellous nonsense with which the papers- have been flooded."

It is an amueing circumstance thafc Jumbo's- keeper, who had been engaged by Barnum to accompany the animal to America, stated that there would be great difficulty in, getting Jumbo into his conveyance, and it was not until he was informed 1 that Jumbo would be- taken under the management of the American keepers that he could get him into his conveyance. This was not surprising, considering the vast amount of "tips" that he received!. Since then the .riding on the elephants has been takjen in hand by the 6oeiety. and' twopenny tickets issued; these bring in a sum of nearly £800 a year, which formerly went into the pockets of the keepers. From, their ponderous size and unwieldy character, accidents with elephants are not unfrequent. A very serious one happened some time ago, when one of the elephanta accidentally trod on the foot of a keeper. Other incidents are recorded. It is nob long since a lady dropped her bag in front of one_pf the animals that was standing for the children to mount. It was instantly picked up conveyed into the mouth o£ the ele.phant, and, after a few mastications, swallowed. The silver coins were only crushed, and I have now a very much masticated half-crown, which, not being digested, appeared a few days afterwards. This was given me by the late Mr Bortlett. To those who know how to manage them, elephants are not so dangerous as may appear. The fact that Mr Bartlett and a keeper kneed an. enormous gumboil that appeared in. Jumbo's face is a proof that with kindness and good management almost anything can be done with these animals except when, they get in a state cf "must." The se%-erity of the operation may be inferred from tho fact that it was not performed with an ordinary flaiife, but with a. sharp etitting hook, whioh was caught in the side of the tumour and then pulled dfciwn by the united weight of Mr Bartlett and one of the keepers. But it must be remembered that the late Mr Bartlett was an extraordinary man. Notwithstanding his small size and fragile body, he was utterly fearless, and at the samo time exceedingly ingenious in his management of animals. His cutting of tho horn of a rhinocea-os and his abstracting a young hippopotamus from an infuriated parent, his seizing an escaped panther by the scruff of the ne-ck and capturing an escaped infuriated wolf as the keepers blinded its eyes with a police lantern, are but a fewexamples of his extraordinary courage and; ability.— W. B. Tegetiieier, in the Field.

The Hoatzin.— Young birds reared in trees are batched in a pc- f cctly blind, naked, and helpless condition. The only exception to this rule is made by the young hoatzin, a South American bird. The young hoatzins emerge from the shell endowed with a very lively disposition, wandering about tha branches of the trco on which the nest is placed at their own swest will. These, wanderings are nece??ar ; ly attended with, considerable peril, but the risk of accidents is diminished by the presence of claws -with, which their wings aie provided, apparently for this very purpose. Grasping the boughs with enormouj feet, and aided by the claws and beak, they are among the most expert of climbers at a ve-ry tender age.

— The entire collection of coins and! medals in the Biitish Museum, consists of about 250,000 specimens.

Advice to Mothers. — Are you broken fa your rest by a sick cliil'l suffering -with the pain of cutting teeth/ Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of Mrs "Winslow's Soothing Syrup. It will relieve the poor suSerer immediately. It is perfectly harmless and pleasant to taste, it produces natural, quiet sleep, by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes " as bright as a button." It soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates Ihe bowels, and is the best-known remedy for iysentery and diarrhoea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow'a Soothing Syrup 33 sold by Medicine dealers evervwhara.