The Hunters
Then Approach With Great Caution, Creeping Amongst The Long Grass,
Until They Have Got Near Enough To Be Sure Of Their Aim.
They then
discharge all their pieces at once, and throw themselves on their
faces among the grass; the wounded
Elephant immediately applies his
trunk to the different wounds, but being unable to extract the
balls, and seeing nobody near him, he becomes quite furious and runs
about amongst the bushes until by fatigue and loss of blood he has
exhausted himself, and affords the hunters an opportunity of firing
a second time at him, by which he is generally brought to the
ground.
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: few of them weigh more than eighty or one hundred
pounds, and upon an average a bar of European merchandise may be
reckoned as the price of a pound of ivory.
I have now, I trust, in this and the preceding chapters explained
with sufficient minuteness the nature and extent of the commercial
connection which at present prevails, and has long subsisted,
between the negro natives of those parts of Africa which I visited
and the nations of Europe; and it appears that slaves, gold, and
ivory, together with the few articles enumerated in the beginning of
my work - viz., bees' wax and honey, hides, gums, and dye-woods -
constitute the whole catalogue of exportable commodities. Other
productions, however, have been incidentally noticed as the growth
of Africa, such as grain of different kinds, tobacco, indigo,
cotton-wool and perhaps a few others; but of all these (which can
only be obtained by cultivation and labour) the natives raise
sufficient only for their own immediate expenditure; nor, under the
present system of their laws, manners, trade, and government, can
anything further be expected from them. It cannot, however, admit
of a doubt that all the rich and valuable productions both of the
East and West Indies might easily be naturalised and brought to the
utmost perfection in the tropical parts of this immense continent.
Nothing is wanting to this end but example to enlighten the minds of
the natives, and instruction to enable them to direct their industry
to proper objects. It was not possible for me to behold the
wonderful fertility of the soil, the vast herds of cattle, proper
both for labour and food, and a variety of other circumstances
favourable to colonisation and agriculture - and reflect, withal, on
the means which presented themselves of a vast inland navigation
without - lamenting that a country so abundantly gifted and favoured
by nature should remain in its present savage and neglected state.
Much more did I lament that a people of manners and disposition so
gentle and benevolent should either be left as they now are,
immersed in the gross and uncomfortable blindness of pagan
superstition, or permitted to become converts to a system of bigotry
and fanaticism which, without enlightening the mind, often debases
the heart. On this subject many observations might be made, but the
reader will probably think that I have already digressed too
largely; and I now, therefore, return to my situation at Kamalia.
CHAPTER XXIV - MOHAMMEDAN CUSTOMS; ARRIVAL AT KINYTAKOORO
The schoolmaster to whose care I was entrusted during the absence of
Karfa was a man of a mild disposition and gentle manners; his name
was Fankooma, and although he himself adhered strictly to the
religion of Mohammed, he was by no means intolerant in his
principles towards others who differed from him. He spent much of
his time in reading, and teaching appeared to be his pleasure as
well as employment. His school consisted of seventeen boys, most of
whom were sons of Kafirs, and two girls, one of whom was Karfa's own
daughter. The girls received their instruction in the daytime, but
the boys always had their lessons, by the light of a large fire,
before day break and again late in the evening; for, being
considered, during their scholarship, as the domestic slaves of the
master, they were employed in planting corn, bringing firewood, and
in other servile offices through the day.
Exclusive of the Koran, and a book or two of commentaries thereon,
the schoolmaster possessed a variety of manuscripts, which had
partly been purchased from the trading Moors, and partly borrowed
from bushreens in the neighbourhood and copied with great care.
Other manuscripts had been produced to me at different places in the
course of my journey; and on recounting those I had before seen, and
those which were now shown to me, and interrogating the schoolmaster
on the subject, I discovered that the negroes are in possession
(among others) of an Arabic version of the Pentateuch of Moses,
which they call Taureta la Moosa.
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