s generally adopted by our nation,
for at that time fire-arms were not in use among us. But I have heard
that in some countries, when the hunters wish to take the animals
alive, they make large enclosures of very strong stakes, and employ
tame elephants to entice the wild ones inside, when the door is shut,
and they are immediately bound fast with ropes, and kept without food
for several days, till they are partly tamed. But I must return to our
expedition.

At this time we were very unfortunate indeed. Though the herd of
elephants was numerous, and we had dug a great number of pit-falls,
more than a week had passed, and we had made only one capture, a very
young animal whose tusks were hardly worth taking home. This bad luck
was not occasioned by our want of skill, for some of our party, my
father and elder brother in particular, were the most experienced
hunters of our nation, and our traps were covered over and baited with
the greatest care. It was of no use; after the little fellow who met
with his fate on the second day of our falling in with the herd, not a
single elephant would venture his life for the most tempting baits we
could select; and in some places where the path was so narrow that
there was no room to pass the trap, these provoking animals would
either return, or make another track by the side of it, by tearing up
the trees with their trunks, and trampling down the bushes and
underwood.

"This will never do!" said my father; "these rascals are too cunning
for us. We must find another herd. If we do not get some ivory soon,
the Dutch ships will have left the port, and then we shall not be able
to sell our tusks for a pretty while."

So it was agreed, that the next day we would move further up the river,
in hopes of falling in with a less sagacious herd. But the same
afternoon a circumstance occurred which explained the cause of our want
of success in a very satisfactory manner, to _me_ at least, though some
of our company were so stupid as to say that what I am now going to
relate was all nonsense, and that I had been dreaming.

I was stationed in the upper part of a lofty tree within view of one of
our pit-falls, when I perceived three elephants approaching. Two were
of moderate size, but the third was by far the largest animal I had
ever seen or heard of. He seemed almost decrepit with age, and had a
very remarkable appearance, from one of his immense tusks being broken
off, leaving a ragged stump