T H E G O M M O N W O L F T R A P.
Nvim l,n,l forracrlv licni a limitsraan in Engh.n.l, ami was not very nice
. , l „ „ . l 'bavin,-, linger n.m-,, or less, had one morning, while en.leavonr.ng to
p L llH. n<nal loo,, over a >v,.ir. l.ead, as he lay at the botlon, of a . rap nrade
„ e a r lln- l.arraels by the men of li.e rogimenl, by some aeei.lenl Inmbleil .n,
and heeome involuntarily a eon, , .anion to ibe brindled ea,,live. Wo may eonelnde
, b „ t „b i e h was the ve.en,n's „a,ne. mnst have beoo a, t „ leas, as
n,„eb alar,„ed at bis sitna.ion as he no donht was w,tl, the fall. l„,d,„g. howeve,,
10 his inlinite s,„-,,rise, iba, the wolf, far IVom eon„ne,K,ng bosl,bl,es was
the ,nost fri-blened of the two, he very eon,-ageously ]>assed tbc rope round Ihe
, , r n t e s n e , , l < : a „ d g i v b , g the signal ,o his eolleagnes soon bad hi,,, d,-a,vn o,,,
ISu, here ,he affair tool, a serious ebange; the woll, o„ hnd.ng h„„self ex., -
eated lion, the ahvss. felt his eonrage retnr'n, and soon ,nallc ibe exnl mg e„ele
lower thoir tones.' Nothing .»ore than a bint was wanted, as to l„s d,spos,L,on
lo „,ake hattle ; when, as it were by general eonseul, all look to the,r heels.
G u K N i t L scve,-al lin.es ane,-wa,-ds voluntarily descended into wel l s lo muzzle
and olhervvisc seenre wolves p,-evio„s ,0 hoisting tbe,n ont. I believe only one
oxeentlon ever took plaee, from that eo,va,-d slate in wbich they appea,-ed when
i „ l,,e y-a,, All, as in ihe inslanee jnsl .¡noted, as soon as ibey lonnd thenrselves
on the l.-vel ground, and surrounded l,y peojjle, beea„,e fcroerous, and,
,,nl for >lne preeanlions. wonld have done eonsiderable ,uisehier. The best
mode I ever saw practised was the lowering of a jackal trap, made of an old
box, inlo Ihe well ; when the wolf being urged into il, was secured, and thus
carried to tin' ,>laiu 10 be bunted.
I certainly ex,>eetej that sneh very hne dogs as we,-e at tbe station would
have been able to cope with a wolf; hut repealed experi,uei,ts satisbed inc
llial few, even of the most savage, wonld attack one. Nay more ; not only did
Ibev wain inclination; bnl, for the most pari, even g,-eybo„„ds were deficient
in speed, and gave np after a very short essay. I saw sevcal wolves taken ont
lo Jooe,/ plain, which is very extensive, but ont of at least two hundred dogs
t h a t al'f„-st secned eager lo follow, only two or ihrce very superior greyhounds
could keep up, and no', one of tbcn ventured lo seize. This induced gentlemen
r a t h e r to shoot the wolves ii, tbe well, than to risk their gelling away, as all
had done that wer e Uinied out to be hunted.
Wolves arc not to he found in Bengal Proper, except occasionally some
s t r a g g l e r s , which now and then eo,ne u,> f,-o,ii the CuUuck and Bera, eon„l,-ies,
towards Midnapore and tbe other western l,onndai-ics. A few are at li,nes seen
in Houlh Briluir. 1 have know tbem to come within ten miles of Po/n« ; in
general, however, they do not burrow, but return to the hills, or to the nortbw
e s l ; wbere they abonnil. Fro,,, Clnimlr upwards they arc very numerous,
and loo mnch jirMaution cannot he used. In the more centrical parts of Bengal
t h e y ai-e never seen, altbougb there is abundance of cover.
Wolves generally Icar ont the bowels of their prey, oatilig whatever they can
tear away with iheir Icelh. They are cxt,-emi-ly partial lo sneh parts as a,-e ,nuse
u l a r and fleshy; seldom caring ,n„eh abont picking the bones. They delight
in warm blood, and will not ,-eair,ly touch car,-ion, or ivliat has been killed by
o t h e r s , nrdess extremely hungry. The slie-wolf has i-arely moi-e lhan two whelps,
i v h i c h „,ay frc<[uently be seen trotting after Ihe mother. They arc ve,-y fleet,
h a v i n g al Ihe age of seven or eight months ,norc foot than most gi-cyhounds.
Wolves travel great dislances ; their depredations have been ascei'tained al
five and six n,iles li'om where ihey have been known lo burrow. I an, ,alher
inclined lo Ibink ibey do nol regularly resort to their earths; but that they
oceasionallv carry Ihciir prey ihilher 10 avoid interruption, and lhal they lly lo
t h em for safety." I have often seen them lying in grass covers. Once, indeed,
I was a little alarmed. I thought 1 saw four antelope does pi'oceeding lb,-o„gh
some scattered long grass, and ,nade a circuit as quick as I could without dist
n r b i n g them, so as to get a shot at a snug spot whe,-c T expceled Ihem to con,e
out of the covcr. I was jus t lime enough lo come face to face will, ,ny ga.no,
w h ich however proved lo be four large -ivolves. A genllenian who was w ill,
me, bnl wbo,n I had left far behin.l, had nionnted his horse, and, on my
calling, rode op, and eased my ,nind by his ,,rcsencc ; for though the wolves
were al least twent y ya,'ds from me, and ilid not shew any i,umediale inteulion
l o injnre me, I did not consider my situation as being al all eligible. Tbe
wolves, however, on seeing the horse, trolled oil'.
I was informed lhal another kind of trap, adopted f,om Ihe Gei-man mode,
was constructed bv a gent leman with great success. Having a la,-ge c[uantily
of sheep for ihe s,;pply of bis table, which was as famous for its exeellenee, as
he himself was for manv good c|nalilies, and finding they were often taken
away by wolves, he eneiosed an area with l,a„,boos of about hflcen feet long,
set into' the ground al about four o,- live inches asunder, and sloping outwards
a t an angle of about five or six degrees. Al about two feet distance another
circle ofhamboos, arranged in tbe ,sa,nc „,anner, was fixed, hut not more than
f o n r feet long and pointing inwa.'ds ; ihns forming a conical covered way. A
h a t c h was made through which sheep could be lot into this fold ; on the right
side of tbe batch was a triangular swinging gale, made to fit across the covci ed
wav and opening inwards ; so that a wolf might easily pass ,n, bnl as Ihe
,>ale wonl d shnt after hi,n, he was sceurc : 10 tbe left of the hatch the covered
w a y was st,-o„gly closed will, bamboo work. So lhal Ihe woll, or a dozen or
two of wolves, indeed mighl IVeely enter, hut could not go completely round.
T c annot conceive any device mo,'e si„,ple, and, in „,y o|,i„ion, more hkely lo
prove successful, lhan sueli a trap ; 1 am the heller pleased w,lh the Ger,nan
Irai), from my cxpericncc , tha t il mus t be an i„,mense wall, and totally det.atche.l
f r om all means of communicat ion, that will keep wolves f,-on, slice,^ for which,
as also for children al the breast, they seem lo have a great partiabty.
m
P L A T E XXXIV.
SMOKING WOLVES FROM THEIR EARTHS.
I HAVE, Oil several ocfasious, hceu uf parlies where our principal object lias
been lo drive wolves from llieir cartlis. Tliis is best efFccled WIH^I, on a tnarcli :
a f t e r having breakfasiecl, the necessary materials may be eoHeeled from ibe
n c i g b l ) o t i r i n g villages ; and there being plenty of persons at liami, it generally
h a p p e n s lhal ihe most complete success follows. Il is curious lhal llie ualives,
i h o n g h ihey are ¡¡erfcctly sensible of ihe importance of the measure, aiul thai
t h e y arc fnlly compelenl lo the undertaking, yet seldom, if ever, lake the pains
to smoke the wolves from such burrows as may he in ihe neighbourhood of
i h e i r villages. Il is dillicuk to assign any other cause lhan mere idleness for aii
omission of this nature on the parts of such as are almost daily iii ihe hahil of
w i t n e s s i n g the diminution of their ou-n and other families by the nightly
r a v a g e s of these rapacious animals, I never beard of natives allempting to
d e s t r o y wolves, in iheir burrows, unless under the innuence an<l guidance of
some European.
T h e mode of smoking out wolves is extremel y simple, and, as may be readily
supposed, is nol atlendeil ^vilh any heavy exiiense. Such entrances of the
b u r r o w s as face ibe wind, or that, from their position, iavour the undertaking,
a r c left open : all tli.- rest arc stopped suiliciently to leave a d raught of air, but
to create dillleidty, or perhaps altogether impede the sortie of the wolves. As
t h e burro\vs are usually found iii deep nigged water courses, and the smoke
has a natural tendency lo rise, il will mostly happen thai the apertures situated
t o w a r d s ihe bottoms of the ravines arc best suited lo receive the fuel ; especially
as there are generally Hats sulHi-ient to a(hnil ihe operalors and their
a p p a r a l u s with due convenience. There are often ten or twelve entrances; all
of which connnunicale undfr ground. They are of such a size as woiihl admit
a wolf freely without crouching, and such holes as are on the level ground, for
the most part are perpendicular for four or live feel in depth, like small wells,
and then strike oil" in horizontal directions. These are also generally larger
t h a n the lateral apertures.
W h i l e the entrances are being slopped, due care should be taken, lo prevent
the wolves from escaping ; for they are sometimes very sly, and dart forth on
h e a r i n g persons at work near iheiii. To ensure lluiir relention for a while,
the whole of the apertures may he stop))cd iiiilil every thing is ready for fhe
operation. The materials re((uired are nothing mor<r than abundance of hlraw,
])arl of whicli should be moistened lo increase the fumigat ion, and a few pouiids
of brimstone, lo be had in any ([uautity ihroughoul India. The slraw, together
w i t h some dry sticks, is put, as far as can he e/lected by means of poles, inlo
the lower apertures, hut iu a very loose open slate, so as nol lo impede ihe
access of air, on which ihe passage of the smoke throughout the interior
recesses evidently depends. Occasionidly small bundles of straw containing the
s u l p h u r , coarsely ])owdercd, are thrown into the fire, wiiieli .should be well
s u p p o r t e d by a conslaul, but not too abundant supply of fuel.
T h e great ohject is to destroy ihe wolves, and so to damage the hurrow.-i,
which being very deep and spacious, would require labour to dig U[), that in
case any wolves belonging to it should be out and return thereto, they might,
f r om the smell and other indications of the past attack, be deterred from continui
n g their residence in lhal neighbourhooil. l-Ience it is preferable to leave but
little opening al ihe superficial enlrances: it heiug far more desireablii to .suffocate
ihe wolves tiian lo give them the chance of escajie. Some will, however,
b y that violent cxerlion attendaut upon pain and danger, make iheir escape;
b u t for ihe most part tliey arrive al the surface in such a stale, as consigns
t h em lo ihe fate allendanl upon a moment's delay after getting out of the
b u r r o w . They arc, general l y seen to gas[), and nol unfre(|uently fall seemingly
in alii. Their approach is unilbrmly marked by a cessation, or consideralile
diminution, of the column of smoke issuing from the a|)erture. The earlh.s are
too large for ihem to lill with their bodies; hut often iu the agony of sullbcation,
when they may he beard lo whine and moan, they are contorted, and by
l y i n g in a heap, obstruct the current of air. If their lieads be clear, ihey may
recover in some measure, and niake their way out ; bul under such circumstances
they cannot fail lo be easily subdued by the numbers of persons, armed
w i t h spear.'?, guns, &c. who watch their motions, and lake every advaotage.