KILLED BY LEECHES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 373, 1 June 1889, Page 5

KILLED BY LEECHE S.

Assam is the land of leeches. Swamp and jungle, rivers and pools, and even the cultivated fields- 1 , literally swarm with bloodsuckers, and woe betide the man or animal that falls a helple&s prey to them. Instances of unfortunate men md beasts having fallen faint or wounded in out-of-the-way places in A&sam and beine fastened on by the leech swanm and sucked to death aie common enough. The creatures get into the nostrils of cattle out grazing, or settle on tender parts of their skin, driving them mad. Leech sores are a common complaint among both Europeans and natives in Assam. In fact, the country is leech-ridden, as will be seen fiom the awful fate of Mahout Nour Khan and his elephant, Sphinx : Nour Khan took his elephant out as usual, one day, to the jungles beyond Golaghat to collect fodder. That evening, however, neither Nour Khan nor hiy elephant was present at the usual elephant muster ; so it was conjectured that some mishap had befallen them, and a search party was .senb out to scour the country, but the search was fruitless. Three days passed and still no tidings ; it was thought that boh mahout and elephant had got drowned in the River Dhunsiri. On the third evening, however, one of the search party came running up to my bunaglow saying he had found Nour Khan and his elephant, and he implored me to come with him and bring some dawa (medicine), as ho was afraid there was little life in either man or beast. Thinking that brandy would be the best medicine under the circumstances, I mounted my pony and galloped down to the planter's stores and got a bottle. Meanwhile I told the man who found Nour Khan to make for c. certain rendezvous, where I would join him. Never shall I forget the sight that presented Itself when we came upon the lost mahout and his charge. There they lay in the bed of a small ' nallah ' or drain, tho elephant stuck fast in the tieachcrous mud literally covered with leeches, all more or less charged with blood. The surface of the elephant presented the appearance of a large heap of ripe plums, the leeches having gorged themselves into a round shape; and theie they stuck, a quivering mass. The elephant still continued to breathe, and mo\ed his leechcovered trunk about in a helpless way, which indicated plainly that he was in a very weak state indeed. I noticed these things and approached, but so far the mahout was concealed from \iew. Wo found Nour Khan with hi? legs wedged in the mud and held there under the heavy weight of his elephants head— dead. Poor Nour Khan's corpse showed traces of numerous leech bites. The leeches, howevei, hnd left his cold dead body for the warm blood-feast from the elephant. We extricated Nour Khan's lemains as best we could and sent them to be buiied in the Mohammedan graveyard at Golaghat. The elephant was still ali\e and the I difficulty was to get its huge carcase out of the mire. I sent for a number of coolies, and these were set to work to cut down tree branches to make a iirm footing in the river bed. Meanwhile we gave the animal some biead to eat soaked in brandy. This revived him somewhat, so that when the mud was dug away from his sides ho managed, with the assistance of a number of coolies, to net on his feet and so crawl on the tree branches out on to the open. It was a sight to see this huge beast with one side smeared with white mud and the other covered with gorged leeches. A bag of salt was soon forthcoming, and after a quantity was scattered over the clinging leeches they soon relaxed the'r grip and fell in heaps on the grats. More salt sprinkled on tl tir bloated carcases caused them to vomit their gorge of blood. Presently they crawled away to die, for leeches never 10covor after the saline treatment. I had the curiosity to weigh one of the^e bloodgorged creatures, and it turned the scale at half an ounce. Roughly, a thousand leeches had sttuck to Sphinx ; and, allowing fifteen pounds as the net weight of tho leoches, they must have drawn at least sixteen pounds of blood from the animal. Was it any wonder, then, that poor Sphinx died in a few days from the effects of his exposure and blood-letting? It is somewhat amusing to notice the solicitude with which newcomers in Assam fcako care of their lower limbs by encasing them in leather. I recollect an Indian commander-in-chief and staff on a tour in Assam once, and they reminded one of Cromwell's cavalry, from tho size and weight of their leather boots. In spite of this the leeches found them out, and even an Indian commander-in-chief could not command the loptile hordes. If his excellency and had had tho forethought to have theii leatheis salted, r r even carried a littlo salt in their coat pockets, they would ha\o gone through Assam unharmed by leech bites. I should advise every visitor or intending visitor to Assam to carry with him the necessary salt bag, and if he does so he need not fear the. leeches.

Mr A. J. Cadman, M.H.B. for Coromandel, addressed his constituents in the Caledonian Hall, Coromandel, on Saturday evening last. There was a good attendance, Mr Swindloy presiding. The speaker xef erred at length to the vaiious leading topics of the day. Ho grave great credit to the present Minister of Lands, who had simplified the laws considerably. The Mines Act had had one important alteration made to it, viz., empowering County Councils to subsidise schools of mines, as well as various other schools and colleges. This alteration had been made through Colonel Fraser and himself. There was also considerable alteration in occcupation licenses of Crown lands on goldtields. Referring to the tribute system, he hsld that the land ought not to be held unworked, and a high percentage demanded for tribute. The .Native Lands Act had also been altered. Mr Cadman was of opinion that all native land laws should be swopt away, and the natives allowed to deal with their land the same as Europeans. He thought that all goldfields should be bought by the Go vernment. Mr Cadman dwelt at length on tho Reduction of Members Bill, and the new Electoral Laws Bill, showing how it would work. At the close of his address ho was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence,