ihoot above one o f them: fo that they, probably, herd together in infinitely greater numbers' about the more remote and unfrequented rivers in the other parts of Africa, where,- perhaps, they do not only find an afylum, but even exercife dominion over mankind; while the people that inhabit thofe parts are without the knowledge, o f gunpowder, an article of fuch various utility, the invention of which people are lb univerially o f accord to find fault with, the great ufe of which, however, in the confervation and civilization o f our lpecies (though I have never heard acknowledged by any one) it does not appear to me difficult to perceive; a great many Negroes, for want o f powder and fire-arms, being obliged to make their dwellings under-ground, merely on account of the elephants; by which, however, they have often the mortification o f feeing their plantations deftroyed. The Hottentots that I took into my fervice near Zondags- rivier, told me, that in a hunting party, fome o f their acquaintance had got an elephant's cub’ for their fhare, which followed them to their craal, where they had killed it, and feafted on its flefh. The mother,who probably had at length traced it out by the fcent, went at night, when it was dark, to the craal, and, by way o f revenge, deftroyed and turned every thing ihe found topfy turvy. Both Negroes and Hottentots lay fnares for thefe animals by means o f pits which they make, covering them over neatly afterwards, in places where the elephants are ufed to -pais, but the quantity caught by this method is very inconfi- derable. I have alfo been told, that the Hottentots are' .fometimes adventurous enough to throw poifoned darts at an elephant, after which they muft have the patience to *07i' follow the animal feveral days by the fcent, before the poifon is capable of fpreading over its huge body, and of caufing it to fall. The Negroes, Who, according to certain private information I have received, mutually buy and fell the tail of the elephant at the price o f its weight in gold (or, according to M. de Buffon, p. 63,) exchange it in the way o f barter for two or three Haves, induced by fome fuperfti- tious notion, have the boldnefs to cut it off from the body o f the living animal. The Hottentots, however, fet no more value upon it than they do upon the tails o f the buffalo or other animals, which they carry in their girdles, as tokens o f their dexterity and fuccefs in hunting. I brought the tail of an elephant home with me. The ikin of i t being ftripped from the tail itfelf a foot, is two inches broad, and about the thicknefs o f a thin ox’s hide. Probably on the body of the animal, when alive, this tail was fcarcely thicker than a man’s thumb. From the tip of it, and near it to about a foot higher up, on the outfide, grow fome ftiff fmooth hairs, of a glofly black colour, and fourteen or fifteen inches long, in all to the number of about one hundred and eighty, of the thicknefs of middling packthread or iron wire. Thefe hairs are not hollow, but o f a horny nature throughout their whole fubftance ; a great many o f them, however, are tough,' and will bear to be doubled or tied in knots without breaking, and can fcarcely be fnapped afunder by the ftrength of a man, and would therefore be ufeful for making beards to filhing-hooks; though fome of them, V o l . I. X x ' on
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