SHIPPING WILD ANIMALS 115 
Hence the four pits that we dug around the puddle 
were made wedge-shaped, instead of square. They 
were six feet wide at the top and tapered to three 
feet at the bottom; they were eight feet deep and 
ten feet long, with the approach tapering down so 
there would be the least possible chance that the 
beast would injure himself when he fell. 
Over the tops of the pits we built platforms of 
bamboo poles, and covered them with mud and 
leaves, taking care to leave no traces of our work. 
To the building of each pit we gave a whole day 
of hard labor and we were constantly on the alert 
for fear one of the rhinoceroses might surprise us. 
Lookouts were already stationed to catch the sounds 
of the beasts as they broke through the jungle, com- 
ing to their bath. 
One morning a native came running with the 
news that a rhinoceros was trapped. We gathered 
our tools and hurried off to the puddle. There, 
grunting and fighting, lay a two-ton rhinoceros, 
firmly wedged in and helpless. When he saw us, he 
became furious, squirming in the slime of the pit, 
pounding with his feet and grunting. 
I divided my crew, putting half at building a 
cage of heavy timbers and the others at digging 
away the ground in front of the beast. By the time 
the cage was put together and bound securely with 
rattan, we had an incline running down to the pit, 
with two feet of earth walling the rhinoceros in. 
Then we placed skids on the incline and let the cage 
