The African elephant is equally docile as the Indian, when
domesticated, but we have no account of a negro tribe that has
ever tamed one of these sagacious animals: their only maxim is
"kill and eat." Although the flesh of the elephant is extremely
coarse, the foot and trunk are excellent, if properly cooked. A
hole should be dug in the earth, about four feet deep, and two
feet six inches in diameter, the sides of which should be
perpendicular; in this a large fire should be lighted, and kept
burning for four or five hours with a continual supply of wood,
so that the walls become red-hot. At the expiration of the blaze,
the foot should be laid upon the glowing embers, and the hole
covered closely with thick pieces of green wood laid parallel
together to form a ceiling; this should be covered with wet
grass, and the whole plastered with mud, and stamped tightly down
to retain the heat. Upon the mud, a quantity of earth should be
heaped, and the oven should not be opened for thirty hours, or
more. At the expiration of that time, the foot will be perfectly
baked, and the sole will separate like a shoe, and expose a
delicate substance that, with a little oil and vinegar, together
with an allowance of pepper and salt, is a delicious dish that
will feed about fifty men.
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