114 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS chap. 
food, while others were attached to the mucous 
membrane of the paunch. This fact exhibits the 
recuperative power of an elephant in recovering from 
a severe internal injury. 
The natives of Central Africa have a peculiar 
method of destroying them, by dropping a species 
of enormous dagger from the branch of a tree. 
The blade of this instrument is about 2 feet 
in length, very sharp on both edges, and about 
3 inches in width at the base. It is secured 
in a handle about 18 inches long, the top of 
which is knobbed; upon this extremity a mass of 
well-kneaded tenacious clay mixed with chopped 
straw is fixed, weighing 10 or 12 lbs., or even 
more. When a large herd of elephants is dis¬ 
covered in a convenient locality, the hunt is thus 
arranged:—A number of men armed with these 
formidable drop-spears or daggers ascend all the 
largest and most shady trees throughout the neigh¬ 
bouring forest. In a great hunt there may be some 
hundred trees thus occupied. When all is arranged, 
the elephants are driven and forced into the forest, 
to which they naturally retreat as a place of refuge. 
It is their habit to congregate beneath large shady 
trees when thus disturbed, in complete ignorance of 
the fact that the assassins are already among the 
branches. When an elephant stands beneath a tree 
thus manned, the hunter drops his weighted spear¬ 
head so as to strike the back just behind the 
shoulder. The weight of the clay lump drives the 
sharp blade up to the hilt, as it descends from 
