by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XX.
JERKING AN ELEPHANT.
Next day was one of severe, but joyful labour. It was spent in "curing"the elephant, not in a medical sense, but in the language of theprovision-store.
Although not equal to either beef or mutton, or even pork, the flesh ofthe elephant is sufficiently palatable to be eaten. There is no reasonwhy it should not be, for the animal is a clean feeder, and livesaltogether on vegetable substances--the leaves and tender shoots oftrees, with several species of bulbous roots, which he well knows how toextract from the ground with his tusks and trunk. It does not followfrom this that his beef should be well tasted--since we see that thehog, one of the most unclean of feeders, yields most delicious "pork;"while another of the same family (_pachydermata_) that subsists only onsweet succulent roots, produces a flesh both insipid and bitter. Iallude to the South American tapir. The quality of the food, therefore,is no criterion of the quality of the flesh.
It is true that the beef of the elephant was not what Von Bloom and mostof his family would have chosen for their regular diet. Had they beensure of procuring a supply of antelope-venison, the great carcass mighthave gone, not to the "dogs," but to their kindred the hyenas. But theywere not sure of getting even a single antelope, and therefore decidedupon "curing" the elephant. It would be a safe stock to have on hand,and need not interfere with their eating venison, or any other daintythat might turn up.
The first thing done was to cut out the tusks. This proved a tough job,and occupied full two hours. Fortunately there was a good axe on hand.But for this and Swartboy's knowledge, double the time might have beenwasted in the operation.
The ivory having been extracted and put away in a safe place, the"cutting up" then commenced in earnest. Von Bloom and Swartboy were the"baas-butchers," while Hans and Hendrik played the part of "swabs." Asthe carcass lay half under water, they would have had some difficulty indealing with the under part. But this they did not design to touch. Theupper half would be amply sufficient to provision them a long while; andso they set about removing the skin from that side that was uppermost.
The rough thick outer coat they removed in broad sheets cut intosections; and then they peeled off several coats of an under skin, oftough and pliant nature. Had they needed water-vessels, Swartboy wouldhave saved this for making them--as it is used for such purposes by theBushmen and other natives. But they had vessels enough in the wagon, andthis skin was thrown away.
They had now reached the pure flesh, which they separated in largesheets from the ribs; and then the ribs were cut out, one by one, withthe axe. This trouble they would not have taken--as they did not wantthe ribs--but they cut them away for another reason, namely, to enablethem to get at the valuable fat, which lies in enormous quantitiesaround the intestines. Of course for all cooking purposes, the fat wouldbe to them invaluable, and indeed almost necessary to render the fleshitself eatable.
It is no easy matter to get at the fat in the inside of an elephant, asthe whole of the intestines have first to be removed. But Swartboy wasnot to be deterred by a little trouble; so climbing into the interior ofthe huge carcass, he commenced cutting and delving, and every now andthen passing a multitude of "inwards" out to the others, who carriedthem off out of the way.
After a long spell of this work, the fat was secured, and carefullypacked in a piece of clean under-skin; and then the "butchering" wasfinished.
Of course the four feet, which along with the trunk are considered the"tit-bits," had already been separated at the fetlock joint; and stoodout upon the bank, for the future consideration of Swartboy.
The next thing to be done was to "cure" the meat. They had a stock ofsalt--that precious, though, as lately discovered, not indispensablearticle. But the quantity--stowed away in a dry corner of the wagon--wassmall, and would have gone but a short way in curing an elephant.
They had no idea of using it for such a purpose. Flesh can be preservedwithout salt; and not only Swartboy, but Von Bloom himself, knew how topreserve it. In all countries where salt is scarce, the process of"jerking" meat is well understood, and consists simply in cutting itinto thin strips and hanging it out in the sun. A few days of brightwarm sunshine will "jerk" it sufficiently; and meat thus dried will keepgood for months. A slow fire will answer the purpose nearly as well; andin the absence of sunshine, the fire is often resorted to.
Sun-dried meat in South Africa is called "biltongue." The Spaniards ofMexico name it "tasajo," while those of Peru style it "charqui." InEnglish it is "jerked" meat.
Several hours were spent in cutting the elephant-beef into strips, andthen a number of forked poles were set up, others were laid horizontallyover the forks, and upon these the meat was suspended, and hung down innumberless festoons.
Before the sun went down, the neighbourhood of the camp presented a rareappearance. It looked somewhat like the enclosure of a yarn-bleacher,except that the hanging strips, instead of being white, were of abeautiful clear ruby colour.
But the work was not yet completed. The feet remained to be "preserved,"and the mode of curing these was entirely different. That was a secretknown only by Swartboy, and in the execution of it the Bushman playedfirst fiddle, with the important air of a _chef de cuisine_.
He proceeded as follows:--
He first dug a hole in the ground, about two feet deep, and a littlemore in diameter--just large enough to admit one of the feet, which wasnearly two feet diameter at the base. The earth which came out of thishole Swartboy placed in the form of a loose embankment around the edge.
By his direction the boys had already collected upon the spot a largequantity of dried branches and logs. These Swartboy now built over thehole, into a pyramid of ten feet high, and then set the pile on fire. Henext proceeded to make three other pits precisely similar, and builtover each a fire like the first, until four large fires were burningupon the ground.
The fires being now fairly under way, he could only wait until each hadburned down. This would carry the process into the night, and so itturned out; but Swartboy had a foresight of this. He knew he would getthrough with the more important portion of his work before bedtime.
When the first fire had burned quite to red cinders, Swartboy's hardestturn of duty began. With a shovel he lifted the cinders out of the hole,until it was empty; but he was more than an hour in performing thisapparently simple labour. The difficulty arose from the intense heat hehad to encounter, which drove him back after every few moments' work; sothat he was compelled to retreat at intervals in order to cool himself.
The "baas," as well as Hendrik and Hans, took turns with him, until allfour were perspiring as if they had been shut up for half-an-hour in abaker's oven.
When the hole was thoroughly scooped clean of coals, Swartboy, assistedby Von Bloom, lifted one of the huge feet; and, carrying it as near asthey dare go on account of the scorching heat, they heaved it in uponits base.
The sandy earth which had been originally removed, and which was now ashot as molten lead, was pushed over, and around the foot; and then thecinders were raked on top, and over that another huge fire was kindled.
The same process was gone through with the other three feet, and allfour were to be left in the "oven" until the fires should be burneddown, when they would be found sufficiently "baked."
Swartboy would then rake off the cinders, take out the feet with a sharpwooden spit, beat them well to get rid of the dust, scrape the sandclear, then pare off the outside skin, when they would be ready eitherto be eaten or would keep for a long time.
Swartboy would do all this as soon as the four huge bonfires should burndown.
But that would not be before the morning; so all of them, fatigued bythe extraordinary exertions of the day, finished their suppers ofbroiled trunk, and went to rest under the protecting shadow of thenwana.