B8 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



wild animal, neither docs lie exhibit any sympathy or pity, his 

 desire being, like the gunner of the nineteenth century, to exter- 

 minate. It may be readily imagined that wholesale destruction is 

 the result whenever some favourable opportunity delivers a large 

 herd of elephants into the native hands. 



There are various methods employed for trapping, or otherwise 

 destroying. Pitfalls are the most common, as they are simple, 

 and generally fatal. Elephants are thirsty creatures, and when in 

 large herds they make considerable roads in their passage towards 

 a river. They are nearly always to be found upon the same track 

 when nightly approaching the usual spot for drinking or for a bath. 

 It is therefore a simple affair to intercept their route by a series 

 of deep pitfalls dug exactly in the line of their advance. These 

 holes vary in shape ; the circular are, I believe, the most effective, 

 as the elephant falls head downwards, but I have seen them made 

 of different shapes and proportions according to the individual 

 opinions of the trappers. 



It is exceedingly dangerous, when approaching a river, to march 

 in advance of a party without first sending forward a few natives 

 to examine the route in front. The pits are usually about 12 or 

 14 feet in depth. These are covered over with light wood, and 

 crossed with slight branches or reeds, upon which is laid some long 

 dry grass ; this is covered lightly with soil, upon which some 

 elephant's dung is scattered, as though the animal had dropped it 

 during the action of walking. A little broken grass is carelessly 

 distributed upon the surface, and the illusion is complete. The 

 night arrives, and the unsuspecting elephants, having travelled 

 many miles of thirsty wilderness, hurry down the incline towards 

 the welcome river. Crash goes a leading elephant into a well- 

 concealed pitfull ! To the right and left the frightened members 

 of the herd rush at the unlooked-for accident, but there are many 

 other pitfalls cunningly arranged to meet this sudden panic, and 

 several more casualties may arise, which add to the captures on 

 the following morning, when the trappers arrive to examine the 

 position of their pits. The elephants are then attacked with 

 spears while in their helpless position, until they at length succumb 

 through loss of blood. 



There is another terrible method of destroying elephants in 

 Central Africa. During the dry season, when the withered herbage 

 from 10 to 14 feet in height is most inflammable, a large herd of 

 elephants may be found in the middle of such high grass that they 

 can only be perceived should a person be looking down from some 

 elevated point If they should be espied by some native hunter, 



