"WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



by pouring molten lead in their cavity, have passed the 

 custom-houses without difficulty ? 



The question, Which animals are harmful and which 

 are not? becomes more and more acute for Africa the 

 larger the area of cultivated land grows and the more 

 definitive the laws become regarding certain kinds of 

 animals to be protected and preserved. 



Elephants and hippopotami are, no doubt, harmful 

 to the plantations. And yet the tolerant natives of 

 India have not exterminated the wild elephant. 



Hippopotami are particularly harmful by their whole- 

 sale devastations, which occur chiefly at night. A single 

 visit by one or two of these "river-horses" can ruin a 

 whole plantation. No wonder that European settlers 

 are not willing to spare them! 



Elephants, also, are able to do considerable damage 

 to plantations, especially at night, but they have with- 

 drawn more and more from the inhabited districts into 

 the wilderness. Where they are preserved by order 

 of the government, all unusual damage should be made 

 good by the state. Wherever game is protected it will 

 do some damage to individuals or to a certain part of 

 the population — farmers, for instance. 



Baboons, which may be hunted by everybody, are 

 very harmful animals. They do a great deal of damage 

 to the millet-fields and to other cereals. The natives 

 build special huts, raised on poles, and put guards into 

 them, who, by their noise, try to keep off monkeys and 



400 



