My First Voyage to Southern SeasKingston, William Henry Giles
General
My First Voyage to Southern Seas
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Oceania -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction
Strolling on with one of our Moors as a guide, we reached the corral.
By ourselves we should not have found it, for the front part of it
especially was left purposely concealed by trees and jungle. This is
done that the elephants might not be frightened when they are driven in
towards it. The space occupied by the corral was about 500 feet long
and 250 feet wide. From one end, in the centre of which was the
entrance, on either side a palisade extended, growing wider and wider,
and reaching some way into the forest, somewhat in the same manner as a
decoy for wild-fowl is formed. The trees were allowed to stand
untouched in the interior of the corral. The palisades which enclose
the corral were formed of trunks of trees about twelve inches in
diameter. They were sunk three or four feet into the ground, and rose
about fifteen feet above it. They were connected by transverse pieces
of timber lashed to them with jungle ropes. These jungle ropes are
formed of the flexible climbing plants with which the forests abound.
On the outside were fixed forked supports placed against the tie beams,
so that very great force would be required to drive the palisade
outward. Between each upright there was sufficient space left to allow
a man to pass through. Strong as the work was, I could have fancied
that a number of infuriated elephants would very speedily demolish it,
but we were told that they rarely or never even make the attempt, for
the whole corral is completely surrounded by men and boys, who hoot, and
shout, and cry so vociferously, that the poor animals can never face
them, but quickly rush back into the centre, to be as far off as
possible from the noisy crowd.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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