HABITS OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 605 



as a luxury, and in many cases thought too good to be spoiled by cooking. The flesh of the 

 Elephant is dried in order to be formed into "biltongue," or jerked meat, and the fat is jeal- 

 ously preserved, being used in the decoration of the person and rubbed copiously over the 

 head and body. Even the skin is of service to the natives, for beneath the hard, leather-like 

 hide, there lies a tough inner skin, which is carefully removed in large sheets, and is made 

 into vessels for the conveyance of water. 



Some portions of the Elephant are, however, grateful even to Christian palates, and the 

 foot, when baked, is really delicious. This part of the animal is cooked by being laid in a hole 

 in the earth, over which a large fire has been suffered to burn itself out, and then covered over 

 with the hot earth. Another fire is then built on the spot, and permitted to burn itself out as 

 before, and when the place is thoroughly cool, the foot is properly cooked. The flesh of the 

 boiled foot is quite soft and gelatinous, something resembling calf's head, and is so tender 

 that it can be scooped away with a spoon. The trunk and the skin around the eye are also 

 enumerated as delicacies, but have been compared by one who has had practical experience, as 

 bearing a close resemblance to shoe-leather both in toughness and evil flavor. 



The African Elephant is a most suspicious and wary animal, being very keen of scent and 

 acute of hearing. So sensitive are the animal's olfactory faculties, that it can track a native 

 by the scent of his footsteps, although perhaps it might find a difficulty in following the 

 spoor of a shod and cleanly Christian. However close the Elephant may be, the pursued 

 hunter is always safe if he can only climb a tree, for the animal never thinks of looking else- 

 where than on the ground for its foe, and neither by scent nor vision directs its attention to 

 the trees. While employed in thus trailing their enemies, it writhes the trunk into the most 

 singular contortions, fully justifying the epithet of anguimanus, or snake- hand, which has so 

 aptly been applied to that member. 



The natives employ many methods of capturing Elephants, the pitfall being the most 

 deadly. Even this insidious snare is often rendered useless by the sagacity of the crafty old 

 leader's of the herds, who precede .their little troops to the water, as they advance by night to 

 drink, and carefully beating the ground with their trunks as they proceed, unmask the pitfalls 

 that have been dug in their course. They then tear away the coverings of the pits, and render 

 them harmless. These pitfalls are terrible affairs when an animal gets into them, for a 

 sharp stake is set perpendicularly at the bottom, so that the poor Elephant is transfixed by 

 its own weight, and dies miserably. Each pit is about eight feet long by four in width. 



Whenever the Elephants approach the water at night, their advent may be at once known 

 by the commotion that arises among the various animals which have also congregated around 

 the pool for the purpose of slaking their thirst. "If the spring or pool," says Mr. Ander- 

 son, in his valuable work, "Lake Ngami," "be of small extent, all the animals present will 

 immediately retire from the water as soon as they are awai-e of the presence of the Elephants, 

 of whom they appear to have an instinctive dread, and will remain at a respectful distance 

 until the giants have quenched their thirst. Thus, long before I have seen or even heard the 

 Elephants, I have been warned of their approach by the symptoms of uneasiness displayed by 

 such animals as happened to be drinking at the time. The giraffe, for instance, begins to sway 

 his long neck to and fro ; the zebra litters sudden and plaintive cries ; the gnoo glides away 

 with a noiseless step ; and even the ponderous and quarrelsome black rhinoceros, when he has 

 time for reflection, will pull up short in his walk to listen : then turning round, he listens 

 again, and if he feels satisfied that his suspicions are correct, he invariably makes off, giving 

 vent to his fear or ire by one of his vicious and peculiar snorts. Once, it is true, I saw a 

 rhinoceros drinking together with a herd of seven male Elephants ; but then he was of the 

 white species, and, besides, I do not believe that either party knew of each other's proximity." 



The ivory of the African Elephant is extremely valuable, and vast quantities are exported 

 annually. The slaughter of an Elephant is therefore a matter of congratulation to the white 

 hunter, who knows that he can obtain a good price for the tusks and teeth of the animal 

 which he has slain. A pair of tusks weighing about a hundred and fifty pounds will fetch 

 nearly $200 when sold, so that the produce of a successful chase is extremely valuable. One 

 officer contrived to purchase every step in the army by the sale of the ivory which he had 



