chap, vii.] CIRCLING THEM INTO FIRE. 283 - 
in bubble companies. Once helpless in the pit, they 
are easily killed with lances. 
The great elephant hunting season is in January, 
when the high prairies are parched and reduced to* 
straw. At such a time, should a large herd of animals 
be discovered, the natives of the entire district collect 
together to the number of perhaps a thousand men; 
surrounding the elephants by embracing a consider¬ 
able tract of country they fire the grass at a given 
signal. In a few minutes the unconscious elephants 
are surrounded by a circle of fire, which, however 
distant, must eventually close in upon them. The 
men advance with the fire, which rages to the height 
of twenty or thirty feet. At length the elephants, 
alarmed by the volumes of smoke and the roaring of 
the flames, mingled with the shouts of the hunters, 
attempt an escape. They are hemmed in on every 
side—wherever they rush, they are met by an im¬ 
passable barrier of flames and smoke, so stifling, that 
they are forced to retreat. Meanwhile the fatal circle 
is decreasing; buffaloes and antelopes, likewise doomed 
to a horrible fate, crowd panic-stricken to the centre 
of the encircled ring, and the raging fire sweeps over 
all. Burnt, and blinded by fire and smoke, the 
animals are now attacked by the savage crowd of 
hunters, excited by the helplessness of the unfortunate 
