From Pole to Pole

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Lastly, there is the blue vegetable substance called indigo, which is
obtained from small bushes or plants by a simple process of
fermentation. It is mostly used to dye clothing, and has been known in
Europe since the Indian campaign of Alexander.

WILD ELEPHANTS

The home of the wild elephant is the forests of India, the Malay
Peninsula, Ceylon, Sumatra, and Borneo, while another species is found
in Africa. They live in herds of thirty or forty, and every herd forms a
separate community. The leader of the herd is a full-grown bull with
large, strong tusks, whom all the others obey with the greatest
docility. When they wander through the forest, however, or fly before
danger, the females go in front and set the pace, for they alone know
how fast their young ones can travel. Their senses of smell and hearing
are remarkably acute; they are of a good-tempered and peaceable
disposition, and do not care to expose themselves to unnecessary risks.
They are therefore not very dangerous to man, unless when attacked; but
man is their worst enemy.

In India wild elephants are caught to be tamed and employed in labour.
They are captured in various ways, but usually tame elephants are used
to decoy the wild ones. Expert elephant-catchers hide themselves as well
as they can on the backs of tame animals and drive them into a herd of
their wild relations. When a full-grown male has been separated from the
herd, he is beset on all sides by his pursuers and prevented from
sharing in the flight of his companions. They do him no injury, but only
try to tire him out. It may be two whole days before he is so exhausted
that, come what may, he must lie down to sleep. Then the men drop down
from the tame animals and wind ropes round his hind legs, and if there
is a tree at hand they tie him to it.

In Ceylon there are wonderfully smart and expert elephant-catchers who
hunt their game in couples without the help of tame decoys. They search
through the woods and thickets and follow a spoor when they come across
it, being able to judge from the footprints how long ago the trail was
tramped out, how many elephants there were, and whether they were going
fast or slowly. The smallest mark or indication on the way, which a
stranger would not notice, serves as a guide to them. When they have
found the troop they follow it silently as shadows; they creep and
crawl and sneak along the woodland paths as cautiously as leopards. They
never tread on a twig which might crack, they never brush against a leaf
which might rustle. The elephants, for all their fine scent and sharp
hearing, have no suspicion of their proximity. The men lie in wait in a
close thicket where the elephants can only move slowly, throw a noose of
ox hide before the animal's hind leg, and draw it tight at the right
moment. Then the elephant finds out his danger, and, trumpeting wildly,
advances to attack, but the men scurry like rats through the brushwood
and strengthen the snares time after time until the animal is fast.

In India whole herds are also captured at once, and this is the most
wonderful sight it is possible to conceive. A place is known in the
forest where a herd of perhaps a hundred animals has made its home.
Natives who are experienced in elephant-catching are called out, and all
the tame elephants procurable are assembled. A chain of sentinels is
posted round the herd, making a circle of several miles. The men
construct a fence of bamboos as quickly and quietly as possible, and
keep to their posts for nearly ten days. The elephants become restless
and try to break through, but wherever they turn they are met with cries
and shouts, blank gunshots and waving torches. They retire again to the
middle of the enclosure. If they make an attempt in another direction,
they are met in the same way, and at last, submitting to their fate,
they stand in the middle where they are least disturbed.

Meanwhile within the circle a very strong enclosure has been erected of
poles, trunks, and sticks 12 feet high, with a diameter of 160 feet at
most. The entrance, which is 12 feet broad, can be closed in a moment by
a huge falling wicket or gate. Now it stands open, and from the two
sideposts run out two long palisades of stakes, forming an open passage
to the entrance. The two fences diverge outwards and are nearest to each
other at the entrance.

When all is ready the great ring of beaters closes up round the herd,
and scares and chases them with shouts and noise towards the opening
between the palings. Fresh parties of beaters rush up, and when the
elephants can find no other way free they dash in between the fences and
into the pen, whereupon the entrance is closed with the heavy gate. They
are caught as in a trap. They may, indeed, gather up their strength and
try to break through the fence of poles, but it is too stoutly built
and the beaters outside scare them away.

[Illustration: PLATE XV. TAME ELEPHANTS AND THEIR DRIVERS.]

The imprisoned animals are left in peace for forty-eight hours, and when
they have become quiet the most difficult and dangerous part of the
exploit begins. Mounted on well-trained tame elephants, the most expert
and experienced elephant-catchers enter the enclosure. They are active
as cats, quick in their movements, bold, courageous, and watchful. Ropes
are hung round the tame elephants so that their riders may have
something to hold on by in case they are attacked and have to lower
themselves down the flanks of their animals. These know by the signs
given to them by the riders what they have to do, and the rider holds in
his hand a small iron spike which he presses against the elephant's neck
to make him move forwards, backwards, to right or left. A rider
approaches a selected victim. If he turns to attack, another tame
elephant comes up and gives him a thrust with his tusks. Choosing his
time, the rider throws a noose round the head of the wild animal. The
tame one helps with his trunk to place the noose right. The other end is
made fast round the trunk of a tree. When the animal is thus secured the
rider slips down to the ground and throws another noose round his hind
legs, and the end of this rope is also fastened to a tree. Thus he is
rendered harmless, and he struggles and tugs in vain to get loose.
Meanwhile the other tame elephants with their riders help to catch and
fetter their wild relations.

Then the captives, well and securely bound, are led one after another
out of the enclosure and are fastened to trees in the forest. Here they
have for a long time to accustom themselves to man and the society of
tame elephants, and when they have lost all fear, spitefulness, and
wildness they are led into the villages to be regularly broken in and
trained to work in the service of their capturers.

It is pleasant to see tame elephants at work, or bathing in the rivers
with their drivers (Plate XV.). They carry timber, they carry goods
along the high-roads, they are useful in many ways where great strength
is needed. The Maharajas of India always keep a well-filled elephant
stable, but employ the animals mostly for tiger-hunting and riding. The
elephant is to them a show animal which is never absent on occasions of
ceremony. Old well-trained animals which carry themselves with royal
dignity fetch, therefore, a very high price.

THE COBRA

The cobra, or spectacled snake, is the most poisonous snake in India. It
is very general in all parts of India, in Further India, in southern
China, in the Sunda Islands, and Ceylon. Its colour is sometimes
yellowish, shading into blue, sometimes brown, and dirty white on the
under side. It is about five feet long. When it is irritated it raises
up the front part of its body like a swan's neck, spreads out the eight
foremost pairs of ribs at the sides, so that a hat or shield-shaped hood
is formed below the head. The rest of the body is curled round, and
gives the creature firm support when it balances the upper part of its
body ready to inflict its poisonous bite with lightning speed. On the
back of its hood are yellow markings like a pair of spectacles.

The cobra lives in old walls or heaps of stone and timber, under roots,
or in dead trunks in the forest, in fact anywhere where he can find a
sheltered hole. He does not avoid human dwellings, and he may often be
seen, heavy and motionless, rolled up before his hole. But as soon as a
man approaches he glides quickly and noiselessly into his hole, and if
attacked defends himself with a weapon which is as dangerous as a
revolver.

He is a day snake, but avoids sunshine and heat and prefers to seek his
food after sunset. He should more properly be described as a snake of
the twilight. He glides under the close brushwood of the jungle in
pursuit of lizards and frogs, birds, eggs, and rats or other small
animals that come in his way. On his roamings he also climbs up trees
and creeping plants, and swims across large streams. It might be thought
that a vessel anchored off the coast would be safe from cobras, but
cases have been known of these snakes swimming out, crawling up the
anchor chains, and creeping on board.

The female lays a score of long eggs as large as a pigeon's, but with a
soft shell. The male and female are believed to entertain a great
affection for each other, for it has been noticed that when one of them
is killed, the other is shortly seen at the same spot.

The Hindus regard the cobra as a god, and are loath to kill him. Many
cannot bring themselves to do so. If a cobra comes into a hut, the owner
sets out milk for him and protects him in every way, and when the
reptile becomes practically tame and finds that he is left undisturbed,
he does his host no harm. But if the snake kills any one in the hut, he
is caught, carried to a distance, and let loose. If he bites a man and
then is killed, the bitten man must also die. If he meets with an
unfriendly reception in a hut, he brings ruin to the inmates; but if he
is hospitably entertained, he brings good fortune and prosperity. If a
serpent-charmer kills a cobra, he loses for ever his power over snakes.
It is natural that a creature which is treated with such reverence must
multiply excessively. About twenty thousand men are killed annually in
India by snakes.

The cobra's poison is secreted in glands, and is forced out through the
poison teeth when these pierce through the skin of a man or animal. Its
effect is virulent when it enters the blood. If the bite pierces a large
artery, death follows surely and rapidly. Otherwise the victim does not
die for several hours, and may be saved by suitable remedies applied
immediately. A dog when bitten begins to bark and howl, vomits, and
jumps about in the greatest uneasiness and despair. In a short time he
becomes weak and helpless and dies. If the same cobra bites several
victims one after the other within a couple of hours, the first dies,
the second becomes violently ill, while the third is less affected. This
is, of course, due to the fact that the contents of the poison glands
become gradually exhausted; but they soon collect again.

When a man is bitten, his body becomes deadly cold, and every sign of
life disappears. His breathing and pulse cannot be perceived at all. He
loses consciousness and feeling and cannot even swallow. With judicious
treatment the small spark of life still left may be preserved. For about
ten days, however, the invalid remains very feeble, and then a slow
improvement sets in. But as a rule the man dies, for in the Indian
jungle help is seldom at hand, and the end soon comes. If the victim
lies for two whole days as though dead, and yet does not actually die,
it may be hoped that his body is throwing off the effect of the poison.

There are many extraordinary men in India. In Benares especially, but
also in any other town, the shrivelled self-torturers called "fakirs"
may be seen in the streets. They are stark naked save for a small
loin-cloth. They are miserable and thin as skeletons, and their whole
bodies are smeared with ashes. They sit motionless at the street corners
of Benares, always in the same posture. One sits cross-legged with his
arms stretched up. Try to hold your arms straight up only for five
minutes, and you will feel that they gradually grow numb. But this man
always sits thus. His arms seem to become fixed in this unnatural
position. As he never uses them they wither away in time. Compared with
his large head they might belong to a child. Another purposely
extinguishes the light of his eyes by staring day after day straight at
the sun with wide-open eyes.

Among the curiosities of India are also the snake-charmers. There are
several varieties of them, and it seems difficult to distinguish exactly
between them. Some appear to be themselves afraid of the snakes they
exhibit, while others handle them with a remarkable contempt of danger.
Some pull out the snake's poison fangs so that they may always be safe,
while others leave them in, and then everything depends on the charmer's
skill and dexterity and the quickness with which he avoids the bite of
the snake. It frequently happens that the charmer is bitten and killed
by his own snakes.

It is not true, as was formerly believed, that the snake-charmer can
entice snakes out of their holes by the soothing tones of his flute and
make them dance to his piping. The dancing is a much simpler affair.
When the captured snake rears up and sways the upper part of his body to
and fro, the charmer holds out some hard object, perhaps a fragment of
brick. The snake bites, but hurts himself, and after a while gives up
biting. Then the charmer can put his hand in front of the snake's head
without being bitten. But when the snake is irritated he still assumes
the same attitude of defence, swaying to and fro, and thus he seems to
be dancing to the sound of the flute.

There are, however, some daring charmers who, by the strains of their
instrument and the movements of their hands, seem to exercise a certain
power over the cobra. They seem to throw the snake into a short faint or
stupor, a kind of hypnotic sleep. The charmer takes his place in a
courtyard, and the spectators gather round him at a safe distance. He
has his cobra in a round, flat basket. The basket he places on the
ground and raises the cover. Then he rouses and provokes the snake to
make it lift up the upper part of its body and expand its hood with the
spectacles. All the time he plays his flute with one hand. With the
other he makes waving, mesmeric passes. The snake gradually becomes
quiet and calm, and the charmer can press his lips against the scales of
its forehead. Then the charmer throws it on one side with a sudden
movement, for the snake may have waked up again and be just on the point
of biting.

All depends on the charmer's quickness and his knowledge of the snake's
disposition. The slightest movement of its muscles and the expression of
its eyes is sufficient to indicate the snake's intentions to the
charmer. It is said that an expert charmer can play with a freshly
caught snake as easily as with an old one. The art consists in lulling
the snake to sleep and perceiving when the dangerous moment is coming.
During the whole exhibition the monotonous squeak of the flute never
ceases. Courage and presence of mind are necessary for such a dangerous
game.

Europeans who have seen these snake-men catch cobras say that their
skilfulness and boldness are remarkable. They seize the snake with bare
hands as it glides through the grass. This is a trick of legerdemain in
which everything depends on the dexterity of the fingers and a quickness
greater than that of the snake itself. The snake-catcher seizes the tail
with his left hand and passes the right with lightning rapidity along
the body up to the head, which he grips with the thumb and forefinger so
that the snake is held as in a vice. Probably the trick consists in
depriving the snake of support to its body with the left hand and
producing undulations which annul those of the reptile itself.

When charmers go out to catch snakes they are always in parties of two
or three. Some of them take with them antidotes to snake bites. If a man
is bitten, a bandage is wound tightly above the wound and the poison is
sucked out. Then a small black stone, as large as an almond, is laid on
the wound. This absorbs blood and some at least of the poison. Adhering
fast to the wound, it does not fall off until it has finished its work.
That so many men die of snake bites is, of course, because assistance
comes too late.

When the charmer begins to play with a cobra he fixes his eyes on it and
never removes them for a second. And the same is true of the cobra, which
keeps its eyes constantly on the charmer. It is like a duel in which
one of the combatants is liable to be killed if he does not parry at
the right moment. Still more watchful is a cobra when he fights with a
mongoose. The mongoose is a small beast of prey of the Viverridae family.
It is barely as large as a cat, has a long body and short legs, and is
the deadly enemy of the cobra. There is a splendid story in Mr. Kipling's
_Jungle Book_ of how a pet mongoose--"Rikki-tikki-tavi"--killed two large
cobras.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] Delhi is again to be the capital of the Empire of British India
(see footnote on p. 141).

[12] At the great Durbar held at Delhi on December 12, 1911, King George
V. announced that the capital of India would be transferred from
Calcutta to Delhi.

XI

FROM INDIA TO CHINA (1908)

THE INDIAN OCEAN

On October 14, 1908, we leave Bombay in the steamer _Delhi_,[13] which
is bound for Shanghai with passengers and cargo. The _Delhi_ is a fine
steamer, 495 feet long, and of 8000 tons burden; it is one of the great
fleet of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (usually
known as the P. & O.), which receives an annual subsidy from the
Government to carry the mails to India and Australia. We cast off from
the quay, and in about an hour's time are slowly drawing out between the
ends of the harbour breakwaters; then the steamer glides more quickly
over the bay between innumerable vessels under different flags, and
Bombay lies behind us with its large houses, its churches, towers, and
chimneys, and its dense forest of ships' masts.

Soon the city has disappeared and we are out on the Indian Ocean. The
weather is fine; there is no sea on, only the faintest swell; sailing
boats lie motionless waiting for a wind, and only a faint breeze renews
the air under the awnings of the promenade deck. It is so warm and
sultry that starched shirts and collars become damp and limp after a
couple of hours. We gradually draw off from the coast, but still the
mountain chain known as the Western Ghats, which extends to the southern
extremity of India, is visible.

Next morning we leave Goa behind, and at noon have the Laccadive group
of islands to starboard. The coast of India is still in sight--a belt of
sand, over which the surf rolls in from the sea, surmounted by a fringe
of coco-palms. On the morning of October 17 we pass the southernmost
point of India, Cape Comorin. Here our course is changed to southeast,
and about midday the coast of Ceylon can be distinguished on the
horizon. From a long distance we can see the white band of breakers
dashing against the beach, and as we approach closer a forest of steamer
funnels, sails, and masts, and beyond them a long row of Asiatic and
European buildings. That is Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, and a very
important port for all vessels which ply between Europe and the Far
East. Gently the _Delhi_ enters the passage between the harbour moles,
and is at once surrounded by a fleet of rowing boats from the shore.
Singalese and Hindus swarm up the gangways, and throw themselves with
much jabbering on the traveller's possessions. They are scantily clothed
with only a shirt or a white sash round the loins and a cloth or a comb
on the head.

We go on shore and find in the principal streets of the town a curious
jumble of copper-brown coloured people, carriages, tramways, and small,
two-wheeled "rickshas" which are pulled by half-naked men. The huts of
the natives and the dwelling-houses of the Europeans nestle among groves
of the slender coco-palm.

The next day the steamer _Moldavia_ (also belonging to the P. & O.)
arrived from England, and was moored close to the _Delhi_ in order to
transfer to her passengers and goods for the Far East, after which the
_Moldavia_ was to continue her voyage for two weeks more to Australia.
When all is ready the _Delhi_ swings out to sea again, the band of the
_Moldavia_ playing a march and her crew and passengers cheering. In the
evening we double the southern point of Ceylon, turning due east--a
course we shall hold as far as the northern cape of Sumatra, 1000 miles
away.

THE SUNDA ISLANDS

On the morning of October 21 all field-glasses are pointed eastwards.
Two small, steep islands stand up out of the sea, a white ring of surf
round their shores, and beyond them several other islands come into
sight, their woods ever green in the perpetual summer of these hot
regions. Now islands crop up on all sides, and we are in the midst of
quite an archipelago. To the south-west we can see rain falling over
Sumatra.

Asia is the largest continent of the world. It has three other divisions
of the world as its neighbours, Europe, Africa, and Australia, and Asia
is more or less connected with these, forming with them the land of the
eastern hemisphere, while America belongs to the western hemisphere.
Europe is so closely and solidly connected with Asia that it may be said
to be a peninsula of it. Africa is joined to Asia by an isthmus 70 miles
broad, which since 1869 has been cut through by the Suez Canal. On the
other hand, Australia is like an enormous island, and lies quite by
itself; the only connection between it and Asia consists of the two
series of large islands and innumerable small ones which rise above the
surface of the intervening sea. The western chain consists of the Sunda
Islands, the eastern of the Philippines and New Guinea. Sumatra is the
first island of the immense pontoon bridge which extends south-eastwards
from the Malay Peninsula. The next is Java, and then follows a row of
medium-sized islands to the east.

[Illustration: THE SUNDA ISLANDS.]

The animal and vegetable life of these islands is very abundant. In
their woods live elephants, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; in the brushwood
lurk tigers and panthers; and in the depths of their primeval forests
dwell monkeys of various species. The largest is the orang-utang, which
grows to a height of five feet, is very strong, savage and dangerous,
and is almost always seen on trees. On these islands, too, grow many
plants and trees which are invaluable to the use of man--sugar-cane,
coffee and tea, rice and tobacco, spices, coco-palms, and the tree the
bark of which yields the remedy for fever, quinine. This remedy is
needed not least on the Sunda Islands themselves, for fever is general
in the low-lying districts round the coasts, though the climate 4000 or
5000 feet above sea-level, among the mountains which occupy the interior
of the islands, is good and healthy.

The equator passes through the middle of Sumatra and Borneo, and
therefore perpetual summer with very moist heat prevails in these
islands. The only seasons really distinguishable are the rainy and dry
seasons, and the Sunda Islands constitute one of the rainiest regions in
the world. The people are Malays and are heathen, but along the coasts
Mohammedanism has acquired great influence. The savage tribes of the
interior have a blind belief in spirits, which animate all lifeless
objects, and the souls of the dead share in the joys and sorrows of the
living.

The larger Sunda islands are four: Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Celebes.
Java, one of the most beautiful and most productive countries in the
world, has an area nearly equal to that of England without Wales, and
its population is also nearly the same--about 30 millions. Sumatra,
which the _Delhi_ has just left to starboard, is three times the size of
Java, but has only one-seventh of its population. The curiously shaped
island of Celebes, again, is about half the size of Sumatra, while
Borneo is the third largest island on the globe not ranking as a
continent, its area being about 300,000 square miles. The Sunda Islands
are subject to Holland, only the north-eastern part of Borneo belonging
to England.

In the strait between Sumatra and Java lies a very small volcanic
island, Krakatau, which in the summer of 1883 was the scene of one of
the most violent eruptions that have taken place in historic times. The
island was uninhabited, and was only visited occasionally by fishermen
from Sumatra; but if it had been inhabited, not a soul would have
survived to relate what took place, for on two other islands which lay a
few miles distant the inhabitants were killed to the last man.

The outburst proper began on August 26, and the fire-breathing mountain
cast out such quantities of ashes that a layer three feet thick was
deposited on the deck of a vessel which happened at the time to be a
considerable distance off. It lightened and thundered, the sea was
disturbed, and many boats were sunk or hurled up on land. The next day
the island fell in and was swallowed up by the sea, only a few
fragments of it being left. Thereupon a huge wave, 100 feet high, poured
over the neighbouring coasts of Sumatra and Java, washing away towns and
villages, woods and railway lines, and when it retreated the country was
swept bare, and corpses of men and animals lay all around. This wave was
so tremendous that it was propagated as far as the coasts of Africa and
America, and it was thus possible to calculate the speed with which it
had traversed the oceans. The noise produced by the eruption was so
great that it was heard even in Ceylon and Australia, at a distance of
2000 miles. If this outburst had taken place in Vienna, it would have
been heard all over Europe and a considerable distance beyond its
limits. Loose ashes ejected from the volcano fell over the earth,
covering an area considerably larger than France, and 40,000 persons
perished.

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