ii 3 6 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



exterminated from large areas in the southern portion of the continent. Indeed, 

 if measures are not shortly taken for its protection, it stands a good chance of 

 sharing the fate which has already befallen the quagga and Burchell's rhinoceros; 

 although it may survive for some time in the more remote equatorial districts and 

 the Sudan. In the districts lying to the southward of the Zambezi, Messrs. Nicolls 

 and Eglington state that, with the exception of a few scattered herds in the more 

 unfrequented parts of Matabeleland and the extremity of Northeastern Mashona- 

 land, " elephants are now only met with in anything like reasonable quantities in 

 the impenetrable bush of the low-lying coast country in the region of Sofala bay. 

 A few herds may possibly exist in the extreme north and northeast of Ovamboland, 

 bordering on the Cunene and Okavango rivers; but if so, they are only a few tusk- 

 less males or young females. The last herd frequenting the Botletli and the neigh- 

 borhood of Lake Ngami was completely destroyed some years ago by Bechua- 

 nas; and although a good many are certainly to be met with in the country 

 between the Chobe and Zambezi, it is improbable that they will survive the attacks 

 of the Barotsi natives during the next two or three years. ' ' Some herds are pre- 

 served in a protected state by the Government in the forests in the east of the Cape 

 Colony. In East Africa, in the Kilima-Njaro district, elephants are still fairly plen- 

 tiful. There they ascend, at certain seasons of the year to an elevation of nine 

 thousand or ten thousand feet among the damp forests clothing the sides of the 

 mountains; while they are found at heights of from seven thousand to eight thou- 

 sand feet above the sea level in the Abyssinian highlands. 



All observers seem to agree that the African elephant is a more power- 

 ful and more active animal than its Asiatic cousin, displaying marvel- 

 ous capacities for getting over precipitous and rocky ground, and being altogether 

 more rapid in its movements. Moreover, most writers consider its disposition de- 

 cidedly fiercer than that of the other species. 



Although there is probably some local difference in this respect, the African 

 elephant, according to Sir Samuel Baker, is far less intolerant of intense solar heat 

 than the Indian species; and in the Sudan these animals may frequently be observed 

 "enjoying themselves in the burning sun in the hottest hours of the day, among 

 plains of withered grass, many miles from a jungle." 



The difference in the structure of their molar teeth would of itself be an indica- 

 tion of a marked distinction in the diet of the two species; and from what we 

 know in the analogous instance of the two African species of rhinoceroses it would 

 be inferred that the nutriment of the African elephant is composed of coarser and 

 harder substances than those eaten by the Indian species. This inference appears 

 to be supported by the results of observation. Thus, in parts of South Africa, Liv- 

 ingstone states that great numbers of trees may be seen " broken off by elephants a 

 foot or two from the ground, in order that they may feed on the tender shoots at 



tops; the trees thus seem pollarded from that point. In spite of this practice, the 



lephant never seriously lessens the number of trees; indeed, I have often been 



ruck by the very little damage he does in a forest. His food consists for the most 



t of bulbs, tubers, roots, and branches; the natives in the interior believe that he 



never touches grass; and the only instance I saw of his having grazed was near Tete, 



