

GIANTS WITH TUSKS AND TRUNK. 143 



she again stopped, and, lashing her tail, roared with a 

 voice that the whole wood re-echoed ; and she said, ' There 

 is no conqueror but God ! ' The boar stamped his hoofs 

 and gnashed his tusks again with rage. His grizzly bris- 

 tles, red with the blood of her mate, stood on end ; then, 

 lowering his snout, he rushed headlong against the lioness, 

 who, springing aside, avoided the dread blow. 



15. "A cloud came over the moon ; but I heard every 

 blow of the paw and every rip of the tusk. There was a 

 dead pause again. The cloud had passed and the heavens 

 were clear, and I saw the lioness with her fore-paw on the 

 body of the boar. I seized my gun and aimed at her 

 head ; that was her last moment. 



16. "The morning dawned; I descended from the 

 rock. The claws of the lioness still grasped in death the 

 body of the boar. Many severe wounds showed that the 

 boar had again fought bravely. The lions were the finest 

 I ever saw, and I made good profit by that night's work." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 GIANTS WITH TUSKS AND TRUNK. 



1. THE elephant is the largest and most powerful of 

 all living quadrupeds, and may be regarded as a remnant 

 of those gigantic races which were common at an earlier 

 period of the earth's history. Specimens have been found 

 upward of twelve feet high, from the sole of the foot to 

 the ridge of the shoulder, above five tons in weight, and 

 capable of carrying enormous burdens. In general figure, 

 the animal seems clumsy and awkward ; but this is fully 

 compensated by the litheness and agility of his trunk. 



