742 TAPIRS. 
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 leaders 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 congre- 
gated around the pool for the purpose of slaking their thirst. “If the spring or pool,” 
says Mr. Anderson, in his valuable work, “ Lake Neami,” “be of small extent, all the 
animals present will immediately retire from the water’as soon as they are aware 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 
utters 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 
imported annually into this country. 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 forty pounds when sold, so that the produce of 
a successful chase 1s extremely valuable. One officer contrived to purchase every step in 
the army by the sale of the ivory which he had thus obtained. On an average, each pair 
of tusks, taking the small with the great, will weigh about one hundred “and twenty 
pounds. 
There is an ingenious but a very cruel method of procuring ivory, which is employed 
by the Somali. The hunter contrives to crawl towards the Elephant as it is reposing, and 
with a single stroke of a very sharp sword nearly severs the principal tendon of the hind 
lee. At the time, the animal thinks little of the wound, evidently supposing it to be 
caused by the prick of a thorn. In order to rid himself of the supposed thorn, he stamps 
violently on the ground, and flings out the wounded limb, until the damaged sinew parts, 
and the Elephant is rendered incapable of locomotion. The hunters do not trouble them- 
selves about the poor beast, knowing that he must soon die of hunger and thirst, as he 
cannot stir from the spot on which he was wounded. After a sufficient time has elapsed 
for putrefaction to have done its work, the hunters return to the spot, and easily draw the 
tusks from the skull. The tail is cut off, and evermore exhibited as a trophy of victory. 
OnE of the links which unite the elephants to the swine and rhinoceros is to be found 
in the genus Tapirus. The animals which belong to this genus are remarkable for the 
prolonged upper lip, which is formed into a kind of small proboscis, not unlike that of the 
elephant, but upon a smaller scale, and devoid of the finger-like appendage at the 
extremity. Only two species are at present existing, but the fossil remains of many other 
species have been discovered, which, by the peculiar length of proboscis and general 
formation, seem to render the transition from the elephant to the swine less abrupt. The 
body is heavy and powerful, the skin thick and almost devoid of hair, and the tail is 
almost wanting. 
