AN AFRICAN ELEPHANT- HUNT 



kerrie, and four or five wives carrying loads of beans and vege- 

 tables for barter. We exchanged blue beads, knives, cheap 

 blankets, and americani for native beans, com, and bananas, 

 which were brought in by these women in great quantities. 

 The americani is cheap, thin, white muslin in bolts, and is 

 traded to the natives by lengths equal to the distance between 

 a man's forefinger tip and his elbow. This method of measuring 

 resulted in some amusing controversies in regard to the candi- 

 date furnished as a measuring stick. The shrewd natives first 

 bring forth a man with his forearm as long as that of a gorilla, 

 who is promptly rejected, as are several others, before one with 

 a normal length of arm is accepted by both parties. After that 

 the trading good-naturedly proceeds. One day I tried to figure 

 out the prevailing rates, and discovered that we were getting 

 enough beans to feed fifty-two porters for one day in exchange 

 for about two feet of yard-wide americani. 



Our first few experiences with elephants in the bush were 

 more instructive than successful. At noon of the day we 

 arrived several of Mutari's runners came into camp and re- 

 ported that a herd of elephants was in the vicinity of his main 

 village, about three hours away. We immediately packed up 

 a light outfit, and, accompanied by a few of our best men, after 

 three hours' marching reached the collection of huts by dark. 

 Camping in the open space of the twenty thatched huts, sur- 

 rounded by the stockade, we furnished amusement for, and 

 became quite intimate with, an interested collection of small 

 naked children, goats, sheep, and cattle, which occupied this 

 public place with us. The next morning, after four hours of 

 very trying travelling, we came upon the tracks of a herd of 

 elephants, but discovered to our disgust that they had all been 

 made several days previous to our arrival. We always sus- 

 pected that Mutari had led us on this chase simply to show 

 us to his people, and to outdo the rival chiefs in the matter 

 of hospitality. By hard marching we managed to reach our 



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