THE GIBBON AND THE ELEPHANT

The sad story of Nasip

Nasip was an orphaned gibbon brought up from a baby on a rubber estate in Pahang, then still Malaya.

Nasip ran free and had to be taught to climb, by the manager of the plantation, by climbing trees so show how it was done.

On his retirement it was decided Nasip would be better off joining some other gibbons at the Zoo near Kuala Lumpur since Nasip had no inclination to integrate back into the wild.

The gibbons already at the zoo, all newcomers, had a small island in the middle of a river with three trees and as the other three or four gibbons were from homes where they had not been taught to climb, they marvelled at Nasip immediately swinging freely about the trees and soon caught on that this is what gibbons do. 

Nasip lived there happily for a while until one day all the gibbons were found dead.

An arsenic compound, presumably sodium arsenite used for weed killing, had leaked from storage and leached into the river, came down stream and the gibbons having drunk from the river water were killed.

A similar event occurred elsewhere when some wild elephants discovered buried drums of the same stuff and drank it with the inevitable happening.

Maybe nowadays there is sufficient control to prevent this.

Mek Yah the elephant

Speaking of elephants, during the insurgency in Malaya following WW2, an interesting story concerns one called Mek Yah with a happy ending.

Mek Yah had been working for 20 years for the Government of Kedah carrying stores for district Officers, Police etc. to the back-blocks kampongs which were inaccessible by road.

In 1952 she was carrying police and stores in the jungle one day when she walked into a bandit ambush in a terrorist infested area of the Temenggor Valley at  the height of the insurgency.  The elephant behind her was killed instantly, along with two policemen.  Mek Yah, which is the name of this elephant, received a burst of Bren–gun bullets along her back but managed to plunge through the ambush with her mahout.   

The mahout was the Malay you see sitting on her neck in the picture.  He had one bullet pass clean through him.  Mek Yah and the mahout spent some months in hospital and recovered, but Mek Yah didn’t feel happy about things and went back to the jungle to live with wild elephants.  Nothing was seen or heard of her for three years until in 1955 some Malays not far from Cheroh Estate in Raub, Pahang, saw an elephant which they guessed was not a wild one.  They reported it to the Game Warden.  He thought that it might be Mek Yah and sent to Kedah for the former mahout.  He went straight up to Mek Yah and they were soon great friends again.  As they left on their way back to Kedah they passed Cheroh Estate and hence a few photographs.

Mek Yah was recognised from the bullet wounds along her back, long since healed, and had emerged at Kuala Lipis approaching a Sikh officer in a friendly manner and accepting a drink from a bucket of water.  A police party under an officer was detailed to escort her back on foot to Kedah having stopped the night at Cheroh Estate and been suitably fed.  The whole party then continued North West, over the main mountain range and back to Kedah.  Later, on retirement from working, Mek Yah entered the zoo near Kuala Lumpur and gave rides to children.

A report in the link below appeared in the Straits Times, 9th December 1955.

Govt. $3,000 for elephant shot by bandits

HEDGE LAYING

Some years ago, a friend with a small farm had the internal dry stone walls removed.   He replaced them with a double fence and planted hedgerows in the centre.

The hedges proved to be a haven for wildlife and whilst I did not understand at the time why he had done this rather drastic change it was an inspirational improvement.

A couple of years or so ago the hedges were strong and bushy so they needed some attention.  They needed laying.

Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the professional who did the laying but I think he came from Barnsley.  If I find out I will add his name as he deserves the mention.

I don’t recall ever seeing anyone lay hedges in this area but this man did a brilliant job and laid the hedges in three distinct styles. 

It was autumn

Someone dogwalking to chat to.

 Derbyshire style.

Midland style.

Westmorland – Lancashire style.

A view between the original double stockproof fencing of the one above which replaced the walls and was a barrier of protection for the original young planted saplings,

Passing the other day it looked to me as though the hedges had been trimmed recently so maybe when there is a good spring growth I will add pictures here of how they have developed.

TUESDAY

It was wet underfoot today as one might expect given the constant precipitation.

It turned out to be a nice afternoon though despite being a desperate morning weatherwise.  Early on it was driving sleet but then around lunchtime the sun came out and it was very pleasant.  Nothing to show photographically though but it was good to be able to be outside in reasonable comfort. 

Very sad for those down south who have been inundated.  There is something to be said for living on a hill in the full blast of the prevailing wind after all.  What is worse is that some evacuated homes down there, I read, are being looted.  There was a time I think, certainly in those parts, when that would never have happened.  Unforgivable but times have changed.   Anyway it is now white outside and there is more deluge and high wind to come they say, so the sunny calm of the last couple of days might be the last for a while. 

ODDS AND ENDS

Having nothing better to do I thought I would add a few oddments. 

Entrance to the fish processing room at Hastings

 

  Hastings fishing boat coming in to be drawn up on the shingle

Drilling

Driving trials at Lowther before it was abandoned although they restarted last year.

Lowther Show 2014 

The water obstacles are always the most interesting

The Duke of Edinburgh competing at Lowther - now retired

 

 

Engine on the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway.  Well worth the trip on here.

Ravenglass and Eskdale railway

 

  
Bird strike on a window pane.  All the dust comes out and sticks.

 

Abandoned pump room.  Not sure if it was for pumping sewage or water.  It serviced an excellent large facility for people with mental problems or those who had been put there out of the way in those days on that pretense, to avoid family embarrassment or to just get rid of them, The facility is now long gone and has another use.

 

A stone mason at work in Hebden Bridge.  There is a big old abandoned water wheel at the bottom of their very interesting yard

 

  Water wheel decaying rapidly

 

    Deserted farm building going to ruin and part of the farm below

 

  The deserted farm

I wonder if anyone will restore it?  It is rather hidden by trees at the end of a track on the edge of a steep sharp valley with a steam in the bottom and it is a bit out of the way.  Maybe it was abandoned for habitation when they built the reservoir further down especially as the stream feeds the reservoir although I think they might have pulled it down if that were the case.  Probably some old person passed on and it has faded away too.

Quirky system this Blogspot facility has at times.  Get all the spacing right on the preview and it goes to pot when I post it so I have given up trying.  It tweaks the pics a bit sometimes too.