73 



bokras lived in families, as many as 20 individuals in one burrow. 

 Each burrow had several inlets, all of them converging to a 

 central chamber, and from that chamber tunnels ran off in all 

 directions, each one being the private residence of a family. 



A burrow having being found that showed by the tracks of the 

 animals that it was well inhabited, the native proceeded to stop 

 up all the holes, except one on the windward side. Into the out- 

 let opposite to and farthest from this he puts, before filling it up, 

 a yam stick or tuft of grass. Into the open hole he then placed 

 lengthwise a handful of the stems and leaves of this plant, set 

 fire to it, and sat down to fan the smoke into the burrow, the fan 

 being either an owl's wing or a bokra's skin sewn on to a forked 

 stick. 



The smoking process took from 15 to 20 minutes. When 

 the native thought there was smoke enough in the burrow, he 

 went to the opposite hole into w T hich he had inserted the yam 

 stick or tufts of grass, and if, on removing it, smoke came out 

 freely, he knew there was enough. He then stopped up the fire 

 hole, and, crouching down on the top of the burrow, he listened 

 intently for the movements, coughing or sneezing, of the bokras, 

 making marks on the ground where the sounds indicated the 

 situation of the animals in their last dying struggle. This was 

 often near the outlets of the burrow. When all was quiet, the 

 native opened the outlets at the marked spots and took out all 

 the animals within his reach. If there were not as many as he 

 wanted, he sunk a hole down into the centre of the burrow to get 

 at those that had died in the central chamber. 



The hole sunk was about two feet in diameter, quite circular, 

 and often four or five feet deep. Its object was to reach the 

 point to where the different openings and tunnels converged. 

 The tools used were a yam stick and a wooden tray or shovel 

 eight or nine inches long by six or seven inches wide. When the 

 hole was about 15 inches deep, the native got into it, loosening 

 the earth between his legs with the yam stick, and threw it out 

 over his shoulders with the shovel. It required about an hour to 

 sink a hole four feet deep. I once saw eleven bokra taken out of 

 one burrow, six from the outlet holes and five from the bottom of 

 the shaft. A full-grown bokra weighs as much as an average- 

 sized rabbit. 



