DELIVERANCE FROM PITFALLS. . 269 
timely discover a pitfall, forthwith, remove its cover¬ 
ing, which is easily effected by means of their 
trunks; and to a certain extent at least, this 
statement is confirmed by Mr. Green, who says : — 
cs On more than one occasion I have myself ob¬ 
served the grass and sticks used to conceal the 
recently-uncovered abyss strewed near to it on the 
ground, and have seen the spoor of elephants about 
the place, which left little doubt in my mind that 
this had not been done by the hand of man, but by 
these sagacious brutes.” 
“ On other occasions,” my friend goes on to say, 
es I have seen the spoor of an elephant leading di¬ 
rect to a pit-fall, and traced it to the very edge, 
where he has detected the trap; and, turning on 
one side, he has pulled some bushes out of the fence 
connecting the several abysses, thus opening an¬ 
other pathway for himself, and continuing his course 
to the water.” 
My friend also tells me “ that elephants, when 
approaching at night waters of which they 
entertain suspicion, will follow the spoor of others 
that have gone before them; and should it have so 
happened that the troop in advance has scented 
danger and turned aside from the pool wfithout 
drinking, those that follow, although it may be 
hours afterwards, will do so likewise.” 
The Namaqua Hottentots affirm, moreover, that 
the elephant can distinguish between the foot-fall of 
civilized man and that of the natives. 
The flesh of the elephant is generally described by 
travellers as “ strong and disagreeable, partaking 
