36 THE ELEPHANT. 



young, has by no means a strong affection for it : instances 

 have occurred of the mother leaving her offspring and escaping 

 into the woods. If a wild elephant happens to be separated 

 from her young for only two days, though giving suck, she 

 never afterwards recognises or acknowledges it. " I have 

 been much mortified/ ' says Mr. Corse, " at such unnatural 

 conduct, particularly when it was evident the young ele- 

 phant knew its dam, and by its plaintive cries and submissive 

 approaches solicited her assistance/ ' 



During the first year the elephant grows eleven inches, 

 and is three feet eleven inches high ; in the second he grows 

 eight inches; in the third six ; in the fourth year five inches; 

 about the same in the fifth year; in the sixth year three 

 inches and a half; and in the seventh year two inches 

 and a half, — measuring then six feet four inches in height. 

 During the succeeding ten years the growth is comparatively 

 slow. 



The male is longer in attaining his full growth than the 

 female, seldom having acquired it before his twenty- sixth 

 year. 



The height of the elephant has been much exaggerated. In 

 India the height of the female is in general from seven to 

 eight feet, and that of the male from eight to ten feet, mea- 

 sured at the shoulder. 



" I have never heard/' says Mr. Corse, " but of one ele- 

 phant, on good authority, that much exceeded ten feet ; this 

 was a male belonging to the Vizier of Oude. The admeasure- 

 ments of this animal were as follow : — 



Feet. In. 



From foot to foot over the shoulder 22 lOf 



From the top of the shoulder, perpendicular height . . 10 6 

 From the top of the head when set up as he ought to 



march in state 12 2 



From the front of the face to the insertion of the tail . 15 11 



" The Madras elephants have been said to be from seven- 

 teen to twenty feet high : but to show how much the natives 

 of India are inclined to the marvellous, and how liable Eu- 

 ropeans themselves are to mistakes, I will relate a circum- 

 stance that happened to myself. 



" Having heard from several gentlemen who had been at 

 Dacca that the Nabob there had an elephant about fourteen 

 feet high, I was desirous to measure him, especially as I had 

 seen him often myself during the year 1/85, and then sup- 

 posed him to be above twelve feet. After being at Tiperah, 

 and having seen many elephants caught, and finding all of 

 them much inferior in height to what I supposed the Nabob's 



