This trouble they would not have taken--as they did not want the ribs--but they cut them away for another reason, namely, to enable them to get at the valuable fat, which lies in enormous quantities around the intestines.

Of course for all cooking purposes, the fat would be to them invaluable, and indeed almost necessary to render the flesh itself eatable.
It is no easy matter to get at the fat in the inside of an elephant, as the whole of the intestines have first to be removed.

But Swartboy was not to be deterred by a little trouble; so _climbing into the interior_ of the huge carcass, he commenced cutting and delving, and every now and then passing a multitude of "inwards" out to the others, who carried them off out of the way.
After a long spell of this work, the fat was secured, and carefully packed in a piece of clean under-skin; and then the "butchering" was finished.
Of course the four feet, which along with the trunk are considered the "tit-bits," had already been separated at the fetlock joint; and stood out upon the bank, for the future consideration of Swartboy.
The next thing to be done was to "cure" the meat.

They had a stock of suit--that precious, though, as lately discovered, _not_ indispensable article.

But the quantity--stowed away in a dry corner of the wagon-- was small, and would have gone but a short way in curing an elephant.
They had no idea of using it for such a purpose.