534 ANN^UAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 19 28 



When one bears in mind the huge bulk of the animal, it is re- 

 markable how noiselessly he moves through the jungle. During one 

 of my excursions a small herd that had been browsing in a gully near 

 Sigiriya passed quite close to my companion and myself. And if 

 we had not known of their presence, we would never have suspected 

 it from any sound of breaking twigs, overturned stones or other 

 noises one might expect to be made by so large a beast passing 

 through the dense forest. 



This is not the place to discuss that ancient, world belief that the 

 elephant " having no joints in his loiees " can not lie down and, of 

 course, always sleeps standing or while leaning against a tree or 

 other support. Shakespeare echoes this age-old fallacy when he says 

 that "the elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy; his legs are 

 for necessity, not flexure." The fact is that an erect posture is 

 generally comfortable for the great beast owing to the ponderous 

 pillars of his body and he often dozes in the upright position, but 

 that he can and does lie down is well known to observers. Sir 

 Emerson Tennent long ago delivered the judgment of the court of 

 scientific observation when he describes the real peculiarity of the 

 great beast not only in lying down but in climbing up and down 

 hill. He performs both acts easily and quickly, by extending his 

 hind legs backwards as a man does when he kneels, instead of bring- 

 ing them under him like the horse or any other quadruped. 



The wise purpose of this arrangement must be obvious to anyone who ob- 

 serves the struggle with which the horse gets up from the ground, and the 

 violent efforts which he makes to raise himself erect. Such an exertion in 

 the case of the elephant, and the force reqviisite to apply a similar movement 

 to raise his weight (equal to 4 or 5 tons) would be attended vrith a dangerous 

 strain upon the muscles, and hence the simple arrangement, which by enabling 

 him to draw the hind feet gradually under him, assists Wm to rise almost 

 without a perceptible effort.'* 



There may have been a period in the early history of Ceylon 

 when the increase in herds of wild elephants created a menace 

 to the crops of the native and possibly to the plantations of 

 Europeans. At any rate, the government stilj permits so-called 

 " sportsmen " to kill these gentle, useful, and now generally harmless 

 animals. I was unable during my stay in the colony to obtain any 

 facts justifying this practice except in the case of " rogues," about 

 which I shall shortly say a word or two. No; the shooting of 

 an elephant with a high-powxn- rifle (through the head at a distance 

 of a few yards) requires no special skill and is attended with no 

 particular risk. The huntsman really gets as much glory out of 

 it and risks his person about as much as he would by going out into 

 a paddy field to fire at a buljock. The act is simply that of the 

 man who is consciously or unconsciously satisfying his primitive 



* Ceylon. An Account of the Island, etc. Fifth edition, London, Vol. II, p. 298. 



