The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 19, 1901, Page 7

! THE SUNDAY CALL. NGLAND has another war on jhand. This time it is a war ' against the army of the jungle, which is carrying devastation and death into her Indian empire. “Blkirmishes with the “Jungle people” have “been g la pa of ing on for years, but now Eng- ake the field for a regular cam- Bo great has become the number uman lives taken each year by the beasts and venomous reptiles in In- » and so many cattle are destroyed an- by them, that the Government is ting giving the biggest hunting the world ever saw, a hunt that al- 1d eause Nimrod, that “mighty ore the Lord,” to leave his rest "s plain and join in the sport. f the constant hunting of tigers r wild beasts in India the tale na ed each year has ead of diminished, and has ions which call loudly for measures of the state of affalrs may be from the fact that last year the ngle killed 27,587 people and of cattle. Man-eating ns, wolves killed 338 ds 327 persons, while shared between number killed no less than ishing from the bite of In return the people dia slew 100,000 bea: ‘jungle pe their forays 1 keep down operty, so the Gov- organize a great from all over to come at Gov- ons of the country bound imals ackals nen the attrac- hd sportsmen hard- r from the four corners of 1 s. So, while the of foreigners which the Govern- service is fighting must be organ- i kill the repules, thereto by generous re- n given for the un- ser of people killed by r is that the floods drove m the streams into the @®where they slaugh- ,_H, weane be tigers killed 819 people in ght by the Government and it i been reached, ¢ s was check their ravages o c r numbers by offering = ry tiger head brought in. led that year jungle people” kept increasing hed their present s. The tiger usually pre- and pea-fow - palatable a man- ater is an . kill not only to gratify his appetite, but from the very ove of killing. A single man-eating tiger to have killed 108 persons in ars. Another killed an average of eighty persons & year, and a third ed thirteen villages to be abandoned &nd 250 square miles of land to be thrown of cultivation. A fourth kifled 127 ons and caused a public road to be closed until the opportune arrival of an portsman, who at last killed the of the jungle. Haunts of the Tiger. The tiger is found in every part of In- @ia, from the slopes of the Himalayas to to frequenting grassy plains , it is found also n forests, yrite hunting ground, unless it is the mneighborhood of He haunts deserted cities palaces—a striped mon- keeping the halls once held their -in- ter, ation, gotten kings here is the tiger so 2 id these ruins. In the jun- plain he is simply a great ast; but passing with his 1 down empty streets of als, or pausing in a shaft at the head of some great with the black shadows of the ering walls and fallen colugans sround him, he is grand, majestic, the very genfus of the place. -eater seiects some vil- two or three nelghboring r his field of operations. There wait to steal the scraggy, under- fed Gomestic cattle for his provender “be- meals to seize his favorite men, women and children, who too near the edge of the jungle. mes the wicked old man-eater gets 2nd his longing for human flesh strcrg that he wi'l venture at night nto the streets of the village for his vic- A confirmed m and met & Createst Wit tim, rometimes even into a hut, if he finds one with an open door. The Soonderbun. The tiger now is found in the greatest numbers in the malarious country that fringes the Himalayas, in the jungles of the central plateau and the dense forest which clothes the low, swampy lands of the delta of the Ganges. The man who first called this delta country the Soon- derbun—beautiful forest— must have had a grim sense of humor, for there is no more horrible region on earth. The delta stretches along the northern face of the Bay of Bengal for 200 miles. Its west- ern half is clothed with forests, while in the eastern part the shores are mud banks where the ebbtide retires for twenty miles from high water mark, although the rise and fall does not exceed twelve feet. The Soonderbun region is covered with a dense mass of stunted trees growing on swampy land, which is fighting continual- Iy for existence with the ocean. In- nun.erable rivers and creeks thread the matted jungle and miasma.reeks from the mcrass. The Soonderbun fairly swams with tigers, fierce wild boars, buffaloes, crocodiles and pythons. The tigers swim the dark waterways, going from place to place in search of new hunting grounds, and their yellow heads lit by fiercely glar- ing eyes are seen more frequently than bosts upon the creeks and rivers which wind their sluggish course through the dark and grewsome jungle. A rart of the forest is reserved by the Goverrment for a supply of timber, but in the parts not reserved efforts are be- ing made to bring the land under culti- vation. But it is hard to get natives to work the land, even with the most liberal inducements, fbr the cultivator lives in | constant dread of the army of the jungle. Wild boars mangle them out of all recog- on, crocodiles drag them down into the hs of the noisome lagoons and tigers their flelds and villages to e them and carry them off to the jun- gle to be devoured, or the buffaloes tram- their crops and impale the laborers on ir horns. Plenty of Chance for Brag. This region will be one of the fields of operation for the sportsmen’s army when it takes the fleld against the “jungle peo- | ple,” tsman who cannot come back from the Soonderbun with encugh trophies of big game to make him a proud | man for the rest of his life, envied and the admired of the stay-at-homes, is un- worthy of the name of sportsman. One s hunting in the delta of the Ganges ought to furnish enough material for him to brag about all the rest of his life, and many reminiscences of big game shoot- ing with which he can bore his grand- children in his old age. The Soonderbun | lies not far below the seat of the Indian | vernment, the great city of Calcutta, cellent base of operations from which the expedition would start, and the waterways of the delta can he navigated by small steamers, so there would be no ifficulty in penetrating into the region where the big game most abounds. In- deed, a jconsiderable amount of shooting can be donme from steamers and smaller boats without risking the hardships and dangers of the jungle trails. Hunting With Elephants. Elephants, from the nature of the coun- try, cannot be used in the hunting of the an e se t:gers of the delta, so they either will be stalked on foot or shot from platforms in the trees or from boats. In hunting the tigers in other parts of India there will be sent out, where the nature of the country will permit, expeditions provided with trained elephants, from the backs of which the tiger shooting will be done. This is the grand and stately way of hunt- ing the jungle monarch, the way of Ra- jahs and Princes. When men go forth to hunt in this manner the outfit is like a| small army. There are the great lumber- ing elephants, with their mahouts or driv- ers astride their necks and the howdahs filled with hunters on their backs. Follow- ing them are supply trains with tents and camp equipage, that the sahib's rest after the fatigues of the day may be surround- ed with luxury and comfort. Then there are hordes of beaters, under the direction of experienced shikaris, who beat the jun- gle with discordant noises to scare the tigers In the direction of the elephants, and long retinues of servants, gun-bear- ers, etc. Rajahs, maharajahs, nawabs and other native’ “heavy swells” take a glit- tering part in such hunts, and the whole affair, for gorgeousness, *beats a circus street parade. No Lack of Danger. If the elephants were not trained for the spert they would turfand run at the first appearance of the great cat of the jungle. The gport, even with elephants, is not de- void of danger, for sometimes a wounded tiger springs in his fury on the elephant’s back and tries to teanm the hunters from + 0 i y “““WW ¥ :«V"/ . INDIAN EMPIRE WILL o " phant, although trgined, may bolt and plunge in his might through the forest, where the low-hung limbs of the trees sweep the hunters from his back. Another method of hunting the tiger is to build platforms in the trees, on which the hunters take their stand while the game is driven toward them by the beat- eis. If the Government decides to give its great hunting party, all these methods of bagging the tiger will be employed, and b oatners! (oo the expeditions organized on a scale never before seen. The organization of an army of sportsmen seems to be the only way of successfully conducting the war with the jungle, and such a war must be waged and prosecuted with vigor. It will not do to have nearly 30,- 000 people killed each year by wild beasts and venomous reptiles, even if the num- bers of the slain would stop at that fig- ure. When the numbers ygarly climb up it is time for action—time to put an army SOUGHT ENRIETTA, Tex., May 12.—When old man Harbison died, a little while ago, his widow and his pretty daughter Mary had more than the fact of his death to dis- tress them. His half-section was found to be so heavily moitgaged that nothing was left for the support of mother and aughter. Stock and implements were in- cluded in the mortgage and the family credit was exhgusted. After the funeral mother and daughter sat down by them- selves to have a good cry. The world seemed very bleak and drear to them. An old Kiowa squaw whom Harbison had befriended and who thereafter had been permitted to make her home with the family, found them in tears. “Why you howl like pappoose?” she asked. “Klowa women no ery when chief he go *way.” The trouble was explained to her—they had nothing left, not even a home. She could not be made to understand what a mortgage was, but she got the impression that the great and pressing need was for money. ‘“Wait,” she sald. “Me get you gold.” The Indian woman disappeared that night and was gone six days. On her re- turn she emptied a shot pouch of nuggets on the kitchen table. Some of them were as large as peas, but many of them no larger than the head of a pin. Altogether there were ten pounds of gold in the heap. “That 'nuff?”’ she asked. Neither mother nor daughter had any idea of the value of the stuff. They knew only that it was gold and that gold was cash everywhere. “Where did you get 1t?” they asked in amazement. “Some day me tell said. ‘“‘Plenty heap more behind. No say now. Bad white maxn he take it.” That gold has peen used to lift the mortgage on the Harbison ranch and it has excited a good deal of wonder and curiosity in this part of the State. The bank at Dennison paid out in exchange for the nuggets the sum of $2000. The facts stated above are substantially as they are told by Mrs. Harbison. She has endeavored to learn from the squaw the situation of her gold mine, but has been put off with the statement, “You want more some time—me get it.” To Mary Harbison the Kiowa woman has been a little more communicative. She has said that there is enough gold in her mine to buy the Indian Territory and build a wire fence around it. She has even promised that if Mary marries a good white man, one who can be trusted, she will tell him where all this gold is to be found. But he must be a good man, and “they no heap plenty,” so she says. An ex-cavalryman who formerly was stationed at Fort 8ill and who now lives here claims to have recognized this Kiowa woman as a squaw, who, with her hus® band, some years ago caused a sensation you,” the squaw the howdah. And sometimes, too, the ele- among the whites in the Nation by offer- TO TRACE ITS o ing gold nuggets to the traders in ex- change for supplies. These two Indians did not live upon the reservation with their tribe, but flocked by themselves. They were well equipped with ponies and the buck was much given to gambling and drinking. When they came into an agency store they usually brought with them a buckskin pouch filled with small nuggets. . After laying in their supplies the buck would fill up on tanglefoot and then lgok for a faro game. His squaw went verywhere with him, and when he had lost his gold and had drunk himself into a thoroughly besotted condition she would take him up on her shoulder and carry him off to their camp. Then they would disappear for a time, only to re- turn with another pouch full of nuggets. in the fleld and declare a war of exter- mination against the forces of the jungle. Plenty of Other Wild Animals. Besides the tigers there are plenty of wolves to be killed. These animals, which kill their hundreds of people every year and slaughter many hundreds of cattle, roam about the open country and carry terror to the settlements. They are particularly given to sneaking into a vil- lage and carrying off young children. In one year thirty children were carried off SOURCE east. {f‘fiflm\t Mnee the Wofld [%eqam TE HUNTERS OF ALL NATIONS TO TAKE PART IN A ST UPENDOUS SLAUGHTER OF MAN-KILLERS from a single farming district. Then there is leopard hunting to be had, and the hunting of the Indian leopard is no joke, for he is a flerce, lithe animal, often seven and a half feet long, and his record as a man-killer is such as to en- title him to stand in the front ranks of the devastating army of the jungle. Bears there are in the forest ¥forces— bears which will attack man and are dan- gerous antagonists—and jackals, which are coursed with hounds like foxes and are destroyers of cattle and of human life. There will be no elephant hunting, for these huge beasts are not numerous enough now to be a menace to the peace and security of the country, and the wild herds are protected by law, so that from them may be drawn the supply of do- mestic elephants. In the sandy deserts of Guzerat are lions to be hunted, and all over the country are wild dogs and wild hogs. Mr. Kipling has not yet told us what the “jungle people” think of the situation. Kiowa (OUNTESS o= MoNTE (RISTO THIS TNDIAN' SQUAW HAS A SEEMINGLY ILLIMITARLE SUPPLY OF GOLD AND HAS SLAIN TWO MEN WHO HANNAH, THE KIOWA ® These two were nicknamed the Count and Countess of Monte Cristo by a lieu- tenant at Fort 8ill, and they were so known to all the soldiers, cattlemen and gamblers in the Territory. Many plans were laid and many efforts made to track the Kiowa to his bonanza, but he suc- ceeded in evading them. Asked where he had got his gold he would point into the west. While drunk one day he told how he found the gold deposit. He had been following a wounded bear and the animal had crawled into a cave to die. He crept in after it, and— Then his squaw snapped out a warning in the Kiowa tongue and gathered him up and dragged him off. The Indian’s love of display and his passion for gaming caused him to make frequent trips to his bonanza in order to get sufficlent sums of gold to supply his wants. ?:ome frontier posts he was al- ‘ways sufrounded by gamblers, sharpers and land sharks, all of whom plied hime with liquor in the hope of inducing him, ‘while drunk, to betray his secret. But for his faithful squaw they might have suc- ceeded. Once, when the squaw found that they were being followed by a half-breed and a gambler named Burlingame, who had hired him to track them, the Klowa woman halted on her journey and made camp for the night. She lit her fire, made a lean-to for her buck, dragged him into it and threw a blanket over him. Then she squatted by the fire and remained be- side it all night. In the morning she started back to the post alone. Then the wetchers entered the lean-to, only to find that the buck had given them the slip during the night. They did not follow the woman. At the post the squaw bought a Win- cliester and then hurried back to her camp. Neither her husband, the half- breed nor the gambler were ever seen again. The supposition is that the trafl- er3 succeeded in tracing her buck to his mine and killed him there, and that she found them in his cave and shot them dcwn as they emerged from it loaded with gold. It is known that she returned alcne to Fort Sill some weeks later and on that occasion bought a wagon and team, with which she headed 'tor the Red River, probably crossing into Texas. Be- fore leaving she told how Burlingame and his half-breed had followed her buck, and how she had found their tracks in her lean-to. “What has become of them?" she was asked. “Ask the buzzards,” she said. Mrs. Harbison’s Klowa woman has beery known all along here as Hannah. Tha story told by .the ex-cavalryman was re~ peated to Mary Harbison, who asked Hannah, if she had ever heard of tha Count of Monte Cristo. “Gamblers call my man so,” she re- plied, so the identification seems to be cor« rect. Mary Harbison has many suitors sinca the old squaw promised to tell her hus- band where the gold mine is to be found, but so far none of them has found favor in the eyes of the old squaw. In their ef- forts to impress her with their homesty they have overdone it. She says of them one and all: “Lick hand now like dog. Bimeby break squaw back with stick.” And she insists that Mary must find a good whita man befors she marries. That this Indian woman knows whera there is a great deposit of gold is beyond question, and it is almost certain that one day she will share her secret with Miss Mary. Nothing but Myths LIE that nothing seems able to kill A is the fable of the snake fascinating its prey. It is always bobbing up serenely. Travelers, otherwisa truthtul, think it necessary to put it in their books; novellsts use it in all good falth, and it appears in the papers once in every six months. The whole yarn is a complete myth. Na snake has any power of fascination; not even a boa constrictor. Snakes le in wait for their prey, pounce on it and makes a meal of it, without any frills or etiquette, but nothing can kill the story. A compane ion lie that generally goes with it is the one about the serpent lcking his prey all over before swallowing it to make the job easy. There is not a jot of truth in this statement either; but since the notion was started by a traveler with a vivid imagin- ation, it has reappeared regularly, and endless books on zoology have copied It as truth. The great Britisk bated-breath story is that the enormous wealth in the Bank of England storercoms is sunk under water every night, so as to be secure against theft. A huge tank is sald to lle under a sort of platform that holds the heaped millions, and at the touch of a button the whole affair lowers itself into the tank and is covered by about nine feet of water. This is absolute bosh; but nothing seems able to kill the fable. It resulted originally from the suggestion of a mad inventor “crank” a long time ago, when ideas for the security of Britain's wealth were be- ing discussed. The fact is, the whole bank building is built “thief-proof,” and all night a body of soldiers patrol the pas- suges and corridors. But the submerged- gold idea is still in the best of health,