CHAPTER II. 



THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 



THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT — ITS USE — MODE OF CAPTURE IN CEYLON — POINTS OF A GOOD ELEPHANT 

 — WHITE ELEPHANTS — FUNERAL OF A WHITE ELEPHANT — THE DWARF ELEPHANT. 



THE Asiatic Elephant, Ekphas Indicus (Plate LI), is a powerful 

 animal with a broad forehead, short neck, strong body, and 

 pillar-like limbs. The head, more particularly, gives the over- 

 powering impression which this great beast exercises on the spectator. 

 It is high, short, and broad ; the facial line is vertical, the cranium 

 crowned by two elevated lateral bumps. Near the ears are two glands 

 which, at certain times, secrete a most offensive fluid. The ears are of 

 moderate size, four-sided, and ending in a point. The small, twinkling, 

 but unpleasant eye is deep-set, and the eyelids are lined with thick, 

 strong, black eyelashes. The centre of the eye is very small and round, 

 the iris coffee-colored. The under lip is pointed, and usually hangs 

 down. Between the eyes is the origin of the trunk, which gradually 

 tapers to its extremity. The powerful tusks project from the upper 

 jaw. The neck is short, the line of the spine is highest just behind the 

 head, and slopes downward to the tail. The tail is placed high, and 

 hangs down straight to the joint of the hind leg. The skin is covered 

 with folds and wrinkles, and is almost destitute of hair. The few hairs 

 on the back are of a dark-gray color. The size of the elephant is usually 

 exaggerated. A very large male will measure from the end of the trunk 

 to the end of the tail eight yards, and will stand about four yards high. 



If it had not been for the presence of man upon the earth, the ele- 

 phant would have been the lord of creation. But man has succeeded in 

 reducing this monarch of the animal kingdom to his service. In India 

 or Siam, when a troop of elephants has been discovered, the natives 

 assemble and surround them, and drive them into a corral. At other 

 times, a solitary male elephant which has been exiled from some troop 

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