ANIMALS. 



309 



First, by shooting ; when the marksman must take 

 great care to go against the wind, for their smell is 

 so exquisite that the moment they get scent of him 

 they instantly retire with the utmost precipitation. 

 He aims at their shoulders, that they may drop at 

 once, and not be irritated by an ineifectual wound. , 

 Provided the wind does not favour the beasts, they 

 may be approached very near, being blinded by the 

 hair which covers their eyes. The other method 

 is performed by a great number of men, who divide 

 and form a vast square : . each band sets fire to the 

 dry grass of the savanna where the herds are feed- 

 ing ; these animals have a great dread of fire, which 

 they see approach on all sides ; they retire from it 

 to the centre of the square ; the bands close, and 

 kill them (pressed together in heaps) without the 

 least hazard. It is pretended, that on every expe- 

 dition of this nature, they kill fifteen hundred or two 

 thousand beeves. 



But the greatest number of these animals are 

 takeu in pounds, which are either of a square or 

 circular form, according to the fancy of the tribes 

 by whom they are constructed. The square ones 

 are composed of trees, laid one upon another to 

 the height of about five feet, each square side being 

 fifty feet long. On the side where the animals are 

 to enter, a bank of earth is raised with an easy de- 

 scent, so as to be on a level with the top of the en- 

 closure, or the other side of the square. Several 

 bra^nclujs of trees are then placed, in a straight 

 Mne, from the raised bank to the? distance of a hun- 

 dred and ten feet, the lines spreading continually 

 fi'pm each other, so as to be two hundred feet apart 



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