CHAP. YII.J 
ELEPHANT PITFALLS. 
191 
usual run of tlie elephants, and sometimes cutting an 
open pit across the path, so as to direct the elephant 
by such obstacles into the path of snares. The pits 
are usually about twelve feet long, and three feet 
broad, by nine deep; these are artfully made, de¬ 
creasing towards the bottom to the breadth of a foot. 
The general elephant route to the drinking-place being 
blocked up, the animals are diverted by a treacherous 
path towards the water, the route intersected by nu¬ 
merous pits, all of which are carefully concealed by 
sticks and straw, the latter being usually strewn with 
elephants’ dung to create a natural effect. 
Should an elephant, during the night fall through 
the deceitful surface, his foot becomes jammed in the 
bottom of the narrow grave, and he labours shoulder 
deep, with two feet in the pitfall so fixed that extri¬ 
cation is impossible. Should one animal be thus 
caught, a sudden panic seizes the rest of the herd, and 
in their hasty retreat one or more are generally victims 
to the numerous pits in the vicinity. The old bulls 
never approach a watering-place rapidly, but carefully 
listen for danger, and then slowly advance with their 
warning trunks stretched to the path before them; 
the delicate nerves of the proboscis at once detect the 
hidden snare, and the victims to pitfalls are the 
members of large herds who, eager to push forward 
incautiously, put their “ foot into it,” like shareholders 
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 
