The Skin Is Now Taken Off, And Extended On The Ground With Pegs To
Dry; And Such Parts Of The Flesh As Are Most Esteemed Are Cut Up
Into Thin Slices, And Dried In The Sun, To Serve For Provisions On
Some Future Occasion.
The teeth are struck out with a light hatchet
which the hunters always carry along with them, not only
For that
purpose, but also to enable them to cut down such trees as contain
honey; for though they carry with them only five or six days'
provisions, they will remain in the woods for months if they are
successful, and support themselves upon the flesh of such elephants
as they kill and wild honey.
The ivory thus collected is seldom brought down to the coast by the
hunters themselves. They dispose of it to the itinerant merchants
who come annually from the coast with arms and ammunition to
purchase this valuable commodity. Some of these merchants will
collect ivory in the course of one season sufficient to load four or
five asses. A great quantity of ivory is likewise brought from the
interior by the slave coffles; there are, however, some slatees of
the Mohammedan persuasion who, from motives of religion, will not
deal in ivory, nor eat of the flesh of the elephant, unless it has
been killed with a spear.
The quantity of ivory collected in this part of Africa is not so
great, nor are the teeth in general so large, as in the countries
nearer the Line:
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