go8 TRAVELS IN THE 
them more untraceable and savage, than they were found to be 
in former times. 
The greater part of the ivory which is sold on the Gambia, 
and Senegal rivers, is brought from the interior country. The 
lands towards the Coast are too swampy, and too much inter- 
sected with creeks and rivers, for so bulky an animal as the 
elephant to travel through, without being discovered ; and when 
once the natives discern the marks of his feet in the earth, the 
whole village is up in arms. The thoughts of feasting on his 
flesh, making sandals of his hide, and selling the teeth to the 
Europeans, inspire every one with courage ; and the animal 
seldom escapes from his pursuers; but in the plains ofBam- 
barra and Kaarta, and the extensive wilds of Jallonkadoo, the 
elephants are very numerous ; and, from the great scarcity of 
gunpowder in those districts, they are less annoyed by the 
natives. 
Scattered teeth are frequently picked up in the woods, and 
travellers are very diligent in looking for them. It is a com- 
mon practice with the elephant, to thrust his teeth under the 
roots of such shrubs and bushes as grow in the more dry 
and elevated parts of the country, where the soil is shallow. 
These bushes he easily overturns, and feeds on the roots, which 
are, in general, more tender and juicy than the hard woody 
branches, or the foliage ; but when the teeth are partly decayed 
by age, and the roots more firmly fixed, the great exertions of 
the animal, in this practice, frequently causes them to break 
short. At Kamalia I saw two teeth ; one, a very large one, which 
were found in the woods, and which were evidently broken 
