When Completed, A Quantity Of The Animal's Dung Is
Swept From The Heap Upon The Snare.
If the trap is undiscovered,
the rhinoceros steps upon the hoop, through which his leg sinks
into the hole,
And upon his attempt to extricate his foot, the
noose draws tight over the legs; as the spiked hoop fixing
tightly into the skin prevents the noose from slipping over the
foot. Once caught, his first effort to escape drags the heavy log
from the trench, and as the animal rushes furiously away, this
acts as a drag, and by catching in the jungle and the protruding
roots of trees, it quickly fatigues him. On the following morning
the hunters discover the rhinoceros by the track of the log that
has ploughed along the ground, and the animal is killed by
lances, or by the sword. The hide of a rhinoceros will produce
seven shields; these are worth about two dollars each, as simple
hide before manufacture; the horn is sold in Abyssinia for about
two dollars per pound, for the manufacture of sword-hilts, which
are much esteemed if of this material.
Upon our return to camp, I found that the woman Barrake was ill.
She had insisted upon eating a large quantity of the fruit of the
hegleek tree (Balanites Aegyptiaca), which abounded in this
neighbourhood. This tree is larger than the generality in that
country, being about thirty feet in height and eighteen inches in
diameter; the ashes of the burnt wood are extremely rich in
potash, and the fruit, which is about the size and shape of a
date, is sometimes pounded and used by the Arabs in lieu of soap
for washing their clothes. This fruit is exceedingly pleasant,
but in a raw state it has an irritating effect upon the bowels,
and should be used in small quantities. Barrake had been
cautioned by the Arabs and ourselves, but she had taken a fancy
that she was determined to gratify; therefore she had eaten the
forbidden fruit from morning until night, and a grievous attack
of diarrhoea was the consequence. My wife had boiled the fruit
with wild honey, and had made a most delicious preserve; in this
state it was not unwholesome. She had likewise preserved the
fruit of the nabbuk in a similar manner: the latter resembles
minute apples in appearance, with something of the medlar in
flavour; enormous quantities were produced upon the banks of the
river, which, falling when ripe, were greedily eaten by
guinea-fowl, wild hogs, antelopes, and monkeys. Elephants are
particularly fond of the fruit of the hegleek, which, although
apparently too insignificant for the attention of such mighty
animals, they nevertheless enjoy beyond any other food, and they
industriously gather them one by one. At the season when the
fruit is ripe, the hegleek tree is a certain attraction to
elephants, who shake the branches and pick up the fallen berries
with their trunks; frequently they overturn the tree itself, as
a more direct manner of feeding.
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