276 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



Scores of men, women and children, make merry, 

 yelling, laughing, chattering and quarrelling as they 

 slash and grab at the choicest portions of the meat, 

 while some of the more boisterous spirits get right 

 into the carcase, from which they emerge, later on, 

 in a horrible mess, with bodies smeared and hair 

 matted with congealed blood, and looking more 

 like devils than human beings. The dexterity with 

 which these people use their knives is amazing, and 

 how they avoid severely cutting themselves has 

 always been a mystery to me, for their razor-edged 

 blades are continually criss-crossing and ripping 

 away in all directions in a seemingly reckless 

 fashion. 



Although I have read many eulogies on elephant 

 meat as a food, I must say that I think it tough 

 and coarse-fibred and without any flavour of game. 

 The feet make good eating, being very gelatinous, 

 but in my opinion the trunk is by far the most 

 palatable portion of the elephant. The method of 

 cooking these titbits is curious : a fire is kindled in 

 a large hole dug in the ground, and when it has 

 burned clear, a light layer of earth is placed over 

 the hot embers, the trunk or foot being inserted in 

 this layer and covered with more earth. A huge 

 fire is then kindled over this strange oven, and in 

 about thirty-six hours, the meat is ready to serve. 

 Elephant's heart, toasted, is good, but has, in my 



