THE ELEPHANT 47 



and vast physical strength and endurance, is an 

 undertaking which demands the utmost care 

 and caution, and which should never exclude any 

 precaution calculated to minimise its many 

 dangers and to assist towards a successful 

 issue. 



Before the introduction of firearms into 

 Central Africa, and indeed to some extent at 

 the present time, these great animals were 

 captured by the native tribes in various ways. 

 There was, first of all, the pitfall method. The 

 pits were shaped like the letter V» and were about 

 13 or 14 feet in depth. As many as ten or a 

 dozen of these would be prepared, as a rule near 

 to a river or other much frequented drinking- 

 place, and carefully concealed by light branches 

 and reeds sprinkled with earth. The herd, 

 moving by night, and arriving in the vicinity 

 of these pits, the first crash and loud roar of 

 dismay, betokening the capture of one of its 

 members, would occasion a mad stampede in 

 which one or two more might be caught. The 

 shape of the hole, bringing all the four feet 

 together, rendered the animals powerless, in 

 which condition they were speared to death 

 the following morning. Another method of 

 compassing their destruction was to surround 

 the herd with a ring of burning grass or jungle. 

 Through this, after having been reduced to a 

 condition of abject panic, the animals would 

 at length charge, to be speared by scores of 

 waiting savages at a moment when, blinded and 

 confused by the fire and smoke, they were too 



