308 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



great labor, and needing considerable skill. In the pies- 

 ent instance the work was clumsily executed, the na- 

 tive hacking and injuring the ivory in removing the 

 bone with their little tomahawks. In consequence of 

 this, I invariably afterward performed the task myself, 

 using superior American hatchets, which I had provid- 

 ed expressly for the purpose. When the tusks had been 

 extracted, I saddled up and started for the camp, ac- 

 companied by my after-riders and a party of the natives 

 bearing the ivory, with a supply of baked foot and trunk 

 and a portion of the flesh. The natives had appropri- 

 ated all the rest, and when I left them they were quar- 

 reling over the remnant of the skull, whose marrowy 

 bones were in high demand. They fought for every 

 chip as it flew from the ax, and chewed it raw. On 

 our way to camp we passed through the kraal of the 

 Bakalahari, situated in the mountain range. In the 

 valleys they had formed considerable gardens, in which 

 corn and water-melons were extensively grown. I was 

 right glad to reach my comfortable camp, and get a 

 bowd of coffee. 



On the evening of the 26th men kept pouring into 

 camp heavily laden with the flesh of the elephant, a 

 large part of which was for Sicomy : they_ halted with 

 me for the night, and resumed their march in the 

 morning. 



