436 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the Zambesi erect stages on high trees overhanging the paths 

 by which the elephants come, and then use a heavy spear four 

 or five feet long. When the unfortunate animal comes beneath, 

 they throw this formidable weapon, and if it enters between the 

 ribs above, as the blade is at least twenty inches long by two 

 broad, the motion of the handle, as it is aided by knocking 

 against the trees, makes frightful gashes within, and soon causes 

 death. They kill them also by means of a spear inserted in a 

 beam of wood, which being suspended on the branch of a tree 

 by a cord attached to a latch, fastened in the path and intended 

 to be struck by the animal's foot, leads to the fall of the beam, 

 and the spear being poisoned, causes death in a few hours. 



On the sloping banks of the Zouga the Bayeiye dig deep 

 pitfalls to entrap the animals as they come to drink, but though 

 these traps are constructed with the greatest ingenuity, old 

 elephants have been known to precede the herd and whisk off 

 their coverings all the way down to the water, or, giving proof 

 of a still more astonishing sagacity, to have actually lifted the 

 young out of the pits into which they had stumbled. 



The Bushmen select full-moon nights for the chase, on account 

 of the coolness, and choose the moment succeeding a charge, 

 when the elephant is out of breath, to run in and give him 

 a stab with their long-bladed spears. The huge creature is 

 often bristling with missile weapons like a porcupine, and 

 though singly none of the wounds may be mortal, yet their 

 number overpowers him by loss of blood. 



In the Lake Districts discovered by Captain Burton, the 

 elephant is hunted in a somewhat similar manner. A tusker 

 having been artfully separated from the herd without exciting- 

 suspicion, the hunting party, consisting of from fifteen to 

 twenty individuals, close in a deadly circle round the victim. 

 The headman then rising with a shout, hurls the first spear, and 

 his example is followed by the rest. The weapons are not 

 poisoned — they are fatal by a succession of small wounds. The 

 baited beast rarely breaks, as might be expected, through the 

 frail circle of assailants ; its proverbial obstinacy is excited, it 

 charges one man, who slips away, when another with a scream 

 thrusts the long stiff spear into its hind-quarters, which makes 

 it change its intention and turn fiercely from the fugitive to the 

 fresh assailant. This continues till the elephant, losing breath 



