THE INDIAN ELEPHANT 1131 



"being far too expensive to be put to such uses. The majority of such animals are, 

 indeed, purchased by the native princes, by whom they are used in state pageants, 

 and the taller the animal, the greater his value. 



By the sportsman the elephant, as we have already had occasion to mention, is 

 extensively employed in tiger shooting; and, indeed, in many districts this sport can 

 only be enjoyed by the aid of these animals. For sporting purposes, the elephant 

 carries a howdah, which should be so constructed as to combine lightness with 

 strength, and to allow of the occupant firing from it with equal ease in any direc- 

 tion. One of the most remarkable features connected with the taming of the Indian 

 elephant, is the extent to which its natural timidity in the presence of its dreaded 

 enemy, the tiger, may be overcome by means of careful training. To enter into any 

 particulars with regard to the mode of employment of elephants in tiger hunting, 

 would, however, be entirely beyond the scope of a work on Natural History. 



As being extremely closely allied to the living Indian species, the 

 :h extinct elephant of the Pleistocene deposits of Europe and Northern 

 Asia, commonly known as the mammoth (E. primigenius) , may be conveniently 

 noticed in this place. So close, indeed, is the relationship between the mammoth 

 and the Indian elephant, that it may be a great question whether they are anything 

 more than varieties of one single species, specially modified for the climates of their 

 respective habitats. It is true that the tusks of the mammoth are much more curved 

 upward than are those of the Indian elephant, and assume a spiral curvature; while 

 the plates of the molar teeth are narrower and more numerous. These, however, 

 are differences which scarcely constitute more than a well-marked variety; and it is 

 noteworthy that when we reach the warmer regions of Asia Minor, the place of the 

 mammoth was taken during the Pleistocene period by an allied species known as the 

 Armenian elephant (E. armeniacus) , which had molar teeth intermediate between 

 those of the former and those of the living Indian elephant. In Siberia, where its 

 carcasses have been found preserved in the frozen soil, the body of the mammoth 

 was covered with a thick coat of brownish, woolly fur, among which were a number 

 of longer bristly black hairs; but it is by no means certain that the animal was thus 

 protected from cold in the more southern and warmer portions of its habitat. Apart, 

 however, from this, the discovery alluded to on p. 1118, that the Indian elephant re- 

 tains traces of a woolly covering similar to that of the mammoth, shows that in this 

 respect there is no essential difference between the tw r o forms; and indicates that the 

 development or loss of the hairy coat was entirely due to climatic conditions. 



The mammoth is found in great abundance in Siberia, its remains becoming 

 more numerous the further north we proceed. In Northern Europe, with the ex- 

 ception of the district to the east of the White Sea, it is, however, rare or unknown; 

 none of its remains having been discovered in Norway, and but few in Denmark and 

 Sweden. Although rare in Scotland and Ireland, mammoth remains are extremely 

 common over the greater part of England, and a large area of Central Europe. 

 They abound in France and Germany, and in Italy extend as far south as Rome, 

 but according to Sir H. H. Howorth are unknown southward of the Pyrenees. 

 Great numbers are dredged from the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. From Eastern 

 Asia the mammoth traveled across what is now Behring Strait into Alaska; but in 



