Strength. 163 



Of course much must depend on the nature of the timber 

 and the moisture of the soil : thus a strong tree on the 

 verge of a swamp may be overthrown with greater ease 

 than a small and low one in parched and solid ground. 

 I have seen no " tree " deserving the name, nothing but 

 jungle and brushwood, thrown down by the mere move- 

 ment of an elephant without some special exertion of 

 force. But he is by no means fond of gratuitously task- 

 ing his strength ; and food being so abundant that he 

 obtains it without an effort, it is not altogether apparent, 

 even were he able to do so, why he should assail " the 

 largest trees in the forest," and encumber his own haunts 

 with their broken stems ; especially as there is scarcely 

 anything which an elephant dislikes more than venturing 

 amongst fallen timber. 



A tree of twelve inches in diameter resisted success- 

 fully the most strenuous struggles of the largest elephant 

 I ever saw led to it ; and when directed by their keepers to 

 clear away jungle, the removal of even a small tree or a 

 healthy young coco-nut palm is a matter both of time and 



teing confined to the mimosas, " im- Ion, says that in the vicinity of the 



mense numbers of which had been torn White Nile, where the principal food of 



out of the ground, and placed in an the elephant is the mimosa, he saw trees 



inverted position, in order to enable uprooted by them, which measured 



the animals to browse at their ease on 30 feet high and 4 feet 6 inches in 



the soft and juicy roots, which form a diameter. But he is " convinced that 



favourite part of their food. Many of no single elephant could have over- 



the larger mimosas had resisted all turned them ; and the natives assured 



their efforts ; and indeed it is only him that they mutually assist one 



after lieavy raitt, when the soil is soft another, and that several engage to- 



and loose, that they ever snccessfjdly gether in the work of overthrowing a 



attempt this operation." (Pringle's large tree ; the powerful tushes of some 



Sketches of South Africa. ) Sir S. being applied as crowbars in the roots 



Baker, whose observation confirms my while others pull at the branches 



own, as to the limited dimensions of the their trunks." [The Albert Nyauz 



trees overthrown by elephants in Cey- vol. i. p. 276.) 



