THE PACHYDERMS 59 



season after season, use such weapons. The big- 

 game hunter of the present day should, if he has 

 anything like the opportunity, run down to Mr. 

 Selous' Museum and have a look at this fearsome 

 weapon ; he may then congratulate himself on the 

 immense improvements that have taken place in 

 sporting rifles during the last score or so of years. 

 Among native hunters, by whom, after all, the vast 

 majority of elephants are at the present time slain in 

 Africa, these 'animals are still commonly shot with 

 cheap smooth-bore guns of -1 2 calibre. Usually these 

 are percussion guns ; occasionally even the old flint- 

 lock is found in use. Here and there a native hunter 

 may be found the proud possessor of a Snider or a 

 Martini-Henry rifle. The Martini-Henry is, nathless 

 modern improvements, a first-rate sporting rifle, 

 and, as the writer can testify, is, with the solid 

 lead bullet, most effective for killing all kinds of 

 heavy game. 



Here and there in savage Africa the elephant 

 is still destroyed by the ancient methods, time- 

 honoured by the usage of thousands of years. 

 The spear-trap is perhaps the most familiar con- 

 trivance. The great spear, to which is attached a 

 heavy weight a big stone, for instance is fastened 

 to a tree in such a way that the elephant in its passage 

 releases the weapon, which plunges into its back and 

 inflicts a deadly wound. Pitfalls are also employed. 

 In Nyasaland are still to be found in some plenty the 

 huge broad-bladed, heavy-hafted assegais, with which 

 the native hunter, seated in a tree, used to deal his blow 



