208 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



FIG. 3(50. 



FIG. 361. 



El' e phas africa'nus. African Elephant. 



not do with its mouth, on account of its short neck and 

 huge tusks. Water may be drawn into the trunk by 



suction, and then, the 

 free end being in- 

 serted into the mouth, 

 the draught forced 

 out and swallowed. 

 The Asiatic species is 

 alone domesticated at 

 the present day.* It 



* Its intelligence is some- 

 times almost human. It can 

 be taught to lay stone wall, 

 and to pile logs uniformly, 

 rolling them up an inclined 

 plane. It is even intrusted 



E. in' dl cus. Asiatic Elephant. 



with the care of young children, the huge nurse being lavish in its attentions, 

 and when its charge crawls between its legs, moving with the utmost caution, 

 and with its trunk carefully lifting the child out of the way. Tcnnant, in his 

 work on Ceylon, says : " One evening my horse manifested uneasiness at a sound 

 which approached us while we were traveling in the thick jungle. A turn in 

 the road soon brought us to a tame elephant, without an attendant. It was 

 carrying a heavy timber which it had balanced across its tusks, but the path 



