The greater part of the ivory which is sold on the Gambia and
Senegal rivers is brought from the interior country. The lands
towards the coast are too swampy and too much intersected with
creeks and rivers for so bulky an animal as the elephant to travel
through without being discovered; and when once the natives discern
the marks of his feet in the earth, the whole village is up in arms.
The thoughts of feasting on his flesh, making sandals of his hide,
and selling the teeth to the Europeans, inspire every one with
courage, and the animal seldom escapes from his pursuers; but in the
plains of Bambarra and Kaarta, and the extensive wilds of
Jallonkadoo, the elephants are very numerous, and, from the great
scarcity of gunpowder in those districts, they are less annoyed by
the natives.

Scattered teeth are frequently picked up in the woods, and
travellers are very diligent in looking for them. It is a common
practice with the elephant to thrust his teeth under the roots of
such shrubs and bushes as grow in the more dry and elevated parts of
the country, where the soil is shallow. These bushes he easily
overturns, and feeds on the roots, which are in general more tender
and juicy than the hard, woody branches or the foliage; but when the
teeth are partly decayed by age, and the roots more firmly fixed,
the great exertions of the animal in this practice frequently cause
them to break short. At Kamalia I saw two teeth, one a very large
one, which were found in the woods, and which were evidently broken
off in this manner. Indeed, it is difficult otherwise to account
for such a large proportion of broken ivory as is daily offered for
sale at the different factories, for when the elephant is killed in
hunting, unless he dashes himself over a precipice, the teeth are
always extracted entire.