SHIPPING WILD ANIMALS 115 



Hence the four pits that we dug around the puddle 

 were made wedge-shaped, instead of square. They 

 were six feet wide at the top and tapered to three 

 feet at the bottom; they were eight feet deep and 

 ten feet long, with the approach tapering down so 

 there would be the least possible chance that the 

 beast would injure himself when he fell. 



Over the tops of the pits we built platforms of 

 bamboo poles, and covered them with mud and 

 leaves, taking care to leave no traces of our work. 

 To the building of each pit we gave a whole day 

 of hard labor and we were constantly on the alert 

 for fear one of the rhinoceroses might surprise us. 

 Lookouts were already stationed to catch the sounds 

 of the beasts as they broke through the jungle, com- 

 ing to their bath. 



One morning a native came running with the 

 news that a rhinoceros was trapped. We gathered 

 our tools and hurried off to the puddle. There, 

 grunting and fighting, lay a two-ton rhinoceros, 

 firmly wedged in and helpless. When he saw us, he 

 became furious, squirming in the slime of the pit, 

 pounding with his feet and grunting. 



I divided my crew, putting half at building a 

 cage of heavy timbers and the others at digging 

 away the ground in front of the beast. By the time 

 the cage was put together and bound securely with 

 rattan, we had an incline running down to the pit, 

 with two feet of earth walling the rhinoceros in. 

 Then we placed skids on the incline and let the cage 



