1 86 The Wild Elephant. 



equal number of female elephants ; the former had on a male 

 dress and the latter a female ; and on a signal being given 

 they stretched forward their trunks in a subdued manner, and 

 took their food in great moderation, and not one of them ap- 

 peared to be gluttonous greedy, or to snatch at a greater por- 

 tion, as did the Persian mentioned by Xenophon. And when 

 it was requisite to drink, a bowl was placed by the side of 

 each ; and inhaling with their trunks they took a draught 

 very orderly ; and then they scattered the drink about in fun ; 

 but not as in insult. Many other acts of a similar kind, both 

 clever and astonishing, have persons described, relating to the 

 peculiarities of these animals, and I saw them writing letters 

 on Roman tablets with their trunks, neither looking awry nor 

 turning aside. The hand, however, of the teacher was placed 

 so as to be a guide in the formation of the letters ; and while 

 it was writing the animal kept its eye fixed down in an 

 accomplished and scholarlike manner." 



