242 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



than fighting. This extraordinary craving for flesh would suggest 

 that the Baris were devoid of cattle. On the contrary, there 

 were countless herds throughout the country ; but the natives 

 have a great objection to killing them, and merely keep the cows 

 for their milk, and the bullocks to bleed. The cows are also 

 bled periodically, and the blood is boiled and eaten, much in the 

 same manner that black pudding is used throughout Europe. A 

 herd of cattle will thus provide animal food without the necessity 

 of slaughtering. 



The great traveler, Bruce, was discredited for having described 

 a fact of which he was an eye-witness. This was the vivisection 

 of a cow driven by natives, who cut a steak out of her hind- 

 quarters. Baker had purchased a bull with a very large hump. 

 This animal was very handsome, and was kept for stock. He 

 observed that the skin of the hump showed a long jagged scar 

 from end to end, and the natives assured him that the bull had 

 frequently been operated upon. It had been the property of one 

 of the slave-hunters' parties, and they had been in the habit of 

 removing the hump as a surgeon would a tumor. This is the 

 most delicate portion of the meat, and it would always be replaced 

 by a similar growth after each operation. 



WONDERFUL STRENGTH OF THE ELEPHANT. 



ELEPHANTS were plenty in the vicinity of Gondokoro, and very 

 bold, as the Bari people never hunt them, trusting entirely to 

 pitfalls. Two large bull elephants actually had the effrontery to 

 invade the camp one night, gaining access through the gate where 

 a sleeping sentinel lay unconscious of all surroundings. An 

 alarm was soon sounded, and the troops called out to meet the 

 brutes ; such firing was never before heard except in battle ; so 

 excited were the men that they fired hap-hazard, in every direc- 

 tion, with infinitely more danger to themselves than to the ele- 

 phants, which, after nearly an hour's firing, escaped, very little 

 the worse for their adventure. Baker relates the following inci- 

 dent, illustrative of the great strength of an elephant : " I once 

 had an opportunity of witnessing an elephant's strength exerted 

 in his search for a certain small fruit of which they are very fond. 



