NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



flesh of the foot became so soft and gelatinous that 

 it could be scraped out with a spoon. 



It has been asserted that the African Elephant is 

 too vicious and unreliable to tame and train for 

 uses, such as those to which the Indian Elephant is 

 employed. Experience and experiment have, how- 

 ever, proved the African species to be as amenable 

 to training, and as docile and intelligent as their 

 Indian cousins. 



The chief objection is the great cost of feeding 

 such huge beasts. However, for military transport 

 purposes under favourable conditions, and in expedi- 

 tions into the interior of Africa, for instance, they 

 should be of great value. In Classical times African 

 Elephants were captured in large numbers and 

 trained for military purposes. There are records 

 which show that Elephants were used by Ptolemy 

 Euergetes, 246-221 B.C., in military expeditions. 



When natives succeed in killing an Elephant, 

 every part of the carcase, except the intestines, are 

 utilised. Every pound of the flesh is eaten, the skin 

 is converted into whips, or cut up into strips and 

 bartered to traders along with the ivory ; the skin 

 of the stomach is converted into a blanket, and the 

 oil-laden marrow bones are broken up and boiled. 



Wholesale destruction of Elephants occurred in 

 the past for the sake of the ivory, which had, and 

 still has, a high commercial value. In most, if not 

 all, .of the African States, Elephants are now under 

 the protection of the various Governments ; but, 



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