GIANTS WITH TUSKS AND TRUNK. 149 



by giving them tlie end of a rope, which they hold fast in 

 their teeth ; that, uniting sagacity to strength, they never 

 break anything committed to their charge ; that from the 

 banks of the rivers they put their bundles into boats, with- 

 out wetting them, laying them down gently, and arrang- 

 ing them where they ought to be placed ; that when dis- 

 posed in the places where their masters direct, they try 

 with their trunks whether the goods are properly stowed ; 

 and, if a tun or cask rolls, they go of their own accord in 

 quest of stones to prop and render it firm." 



11. The elephant is intelligent and sagacious, and on 

 occasions can do many extraordinary things. It readily 

 obeys its keeper, and, if treated kindly, has a strong affec- 

 tion for him. For so large an animal, it is timid, and its 

 submission to man has an element of fear as well as love. 

 It is subject to fits of rage, when no one is safe within its 

 reach. Innumerable stories are told illustrative of the in- 

 telligence, gratitude, memory, resentment, and attachment 

 of elephants. We have room for only one. "An ele- 

 phant in Ajmeer, which frequently passed through the 

 bazaar, or market, as he went by a certain herb-woman 

 always received from her a mouthful of greens. At 

 length he was seized with one of his periodical fits of 

 rage, broke from his fetters, and, running through the 

 market, put the crowd to flight, and among others this 

 woman, who in her haste forgot a little child she had 

 brought with her. The animal, gratefully recollecting 

 the spot where his benefactress was wont to sit, laid aside 

 his fury, and, taking up the infant gently in his trunk, 

 placed it in safety on a stall before a neighboring house." 



12. The tapir, a distant cousin of the elephant, inhab- 

 its the tropical forests of South America, and the Malayan 

 Peninsula of Asia. It is about as large as a donkey of 

 moderate size, and it is provided with a movable probes- 



