THE ELEPHANT. 219 



displayed under our feet, when we were surrounded by a 

 flock of sheep, which were leaving their fold to go to pasture. 

 One of Our party, who was no bad performer on the flute, 

 and who always carried the instrument with him, took it out 

 of his pocket. ' I am going, ' said he, ' to turn Corydon ; 

 let us see whether Virgil's sheep will recognise their pastor.' 

 He began to play. The sheep and goats, which were follow- 

 ing one another towards the mountain with their heads 

 hanging down, raised them at the first sound of the flute, 

 and all, with a general and hasty movement, turned to the 

 side from whence the agreeable noise proceeded. They grad- 

 ually flocked round the musician, and listened with motionless 

 attention. He ceased playing, and the sheep did not stir. 

 The shepherd with his staff now obliged them to move on ; 

 but no sooner did the fluter begin again than his innocent 

 auditors again returned to him. The shepherd, out of patience, 

 pelted them with clods of earth ; but not one of them would 

 move. The fluter played with additional skill ; the shepherd 

 fell into a passion, whistled, scolded, and pelted the poor 

 creatures with stones. Such as were hit by them began to 

 march, but the others still refused to stir. At last the shep- 

 herd was forced to entreat our Orpheus to stop his magic 

 sounds ; the sheep then moved off, but continued to stop at 

 a distance as often as our friend resumed the agreeable 

 instrument. As music was our continual employment, we 

 were delighted with our adventure ; we reasoned upon it the 

 whole day, and concluded that physical pleasure is the basis 

 of all interest in music." 



ORDER VIII. Of the elephant there is now but one genus 

 The Elephant, and two species ; respectively the Indian and 

 the African varieties. At least fourteen species are known to 

 be extinct. 



The elephant is the largest of the quadrupeds; his height 

 is from eight to fourteen feet; his length is ten to fifteen 

 feet. His form resembles that of a hog; his eyes are small 



