HABITS OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 
605 
as a luxury, and in many cases thought too good to be spoiled by cooking. The flesh of the 
Elephant is dried in order to be formed into “ biltongue,” or jerked meat, and the fat is jeal- 
ously preserved, being used in the decoration of the person and rubbed copiously over the 
head and body. Even the skin is of service to the natives, for beneath the hard, leather-like 
hide, there lies a tough inner skin, which is carefully removed in large sheets, and is made 
into vessels for the conveyance of water. 
Some portions of the Elephant are, however, grateful even to Christian palates, and the 
foot, when baked, is really delicious. This part of the animal is cooked by being laid in a hole 
in the earth, over which a large fire has been suffered to burn itself out, and then covered over 
with the hot earth. Another fire is then built on the spot, and permitted to burn itself out as 
before, and when the place is thoroughly cool, the foot is properly cooked. The flesh of the 
boiled foot is quite soft and gelatinous, something resembling calf’s head, and is so tender 
that it can be scooped away with a spoon. The trunk and the skin around the eye are also 
enumerated as delicacies, but have been compared by one who has had practical experience, as 
bearing a close resemblance to shoe-leather both in toughness and evil flavor. 
The African Elephant is a most suspicious and wary animal, being very keen of scent and 
acute of hearing. So sensitive are the animal’s olfactory faculties, that it can track a native 
by the scent of his footsteps, although perhaps it might find a difficulty in following the 
spoor of a shod and cleanly Christian. However close the Elephant may be, the pursued 
hunter is always safe if he can only climb a tree, for the animal never thinks of looking else- 
where than on the ground for its foe, and neither by scent nor vision directs its attention to 
the trees. While employed in thus trailing their enemies, it writhes the trunk into the most 
singular contortions, fully justifying the epithet of anguimanus , or snake- hand, which has so 
aptly been applied to that member. 
The natives employ many methods of capturing Elephants, the pitfall being the most 
deadly. Even this insidious snare is often rendered useless by the sagacity of the crafty old 
leaders of the herds, who precede their little troops to the water, as they advance by night to 
drink, and carefully beating the ground with their trunks as they proceed, unmask the pitfalls 
that have been dug in their course. They then tear away the coverings of the pits, and render 
them harmless. These pitfalls are terrible affairs when an animal gets into them, for a 
sharp stake is set perpendicularly at the bottom, so that the poor Elephant is transfixed by 
its own weight, and dies miserably. Each pit is about eight feet long by four in width. 
Whenever the Elephants approach the water at night, their advent may be at once known 
by the commotion that arises among the various animals which have also congregated around 
the pool for the purpose of slaking their thirst. “If the spring or pool,” says Mr. Ander- 
son, in his valuable work, “Lake A garni,” “be of small extent, all the animals present will 
immediately retire from the water as soon as they are aware of the presence of the Elephants, 
of whom they appear to have an instinctive dread, and will remain at a respectful distance 
until the giants have quenched their thirst. Thus, lon^f before I have seen or even heard the 
Elephants, I have been warned of their approach by the symptoms of uneasiness displayed by 
such animals as happened to be drinking at the time. The giraffe, for instance, begins to sway 
his long neck to and fro ; the zebra utters sudden and plaintive cries ; the gnoo glides away 
with a noiseless step ; and even the ponderous and quarrelsome black rhinoceros, when he has 
time for reflection, will pull up short in his walk to listen : then turning round, he listens 
again, and if he feels satisfied that his suspicions are correct, he invariably makes off, giving 
vent to his fear or ire by one of his vicious and peculiar snorts. Once, it is true, I saw a 
rhinoceros drinking together with a herd of seven male Elephants ; but then he was of the 
white species, and, besides, I do not believe that either party knew of each other’s proximity.” 
The ivory of the African Elephant is extremely valuable, and vast quantities are exported 
annually. The slaughter of an Elephant is therefore a matter of congratulation to the white 
hunter, who knows that he can obtain a good price for the tusks and teeth of the animal 
which he has slain. A pair of tusks weighing about a hundred and fifty pounds will fetch 
nearly $200 when sold, so that the produce of a successful chase is extremely valuable. One 
officer contrived to purchase every step in the army by the sale of the ivory which he had 
