The Cape buffalo has a habit of grazing generally in the evening. During the day it lies at rest in the woods and thickets.
CHAPTER LVI.
VIEWS OF ELEPHANTS.
Of the thick-skinned animals the elephant is perhaps the most interesting to be found in Africa. The African elephant is much larger than that of Asia, and is rarely, if ever, found tame in menageries. It may be known by its enormous ears, which are three times as large as those of Asiatic elephants. It is very wild and fierce.
The Arabs hunt the elephant for its tusks. These form a staple export, namely, the ivory of commerce. Doubtless thousands of elephants are killed yearly in Africa to supply the demand for ivory. Hence the supply must needs in time cease, as the animal becomes extinct.
The Arabs are the chief of elephant hunters. They usually hunt them on horseback, though they not unfrequently go on foot. When on foot they follow the tracks of the animal, planning to come upon it at noon, when it is usually asleep or lying in the shade to rest.
When an elephant is found asleep, a hunter creeps up and cuts off its trunk with a cruel stroke of the sword. The poor creature, feeling the blow, struggles to its feet, but is so bewildered and stupefied with pain that the hunter escapes and the sufferer bleeds to death in about an hour.
Should the animal happen to be awake, the hunters creep up behind it and cut the sinews of one of the hind legs just above the heel. This disables it so it cannot stand upon the leg, and hence cannot run. It is but the work of a few minutes to cut the sinews of the other hind leg, when the animal falls to the ground. An artery is then cut, and the unfortunate creature soon bleeds to death.