ELEPHANTS. 77 



former occasion, still he did not exhibit any signs of weakness, beyond 

 abstaining from those violent efforts which he had previously made 

 against the front of his den ; indeed, from this time he kept almost 

 entirely at the back of his den, and although blood flowed profusely 

 from the wounds he had received, he gave no other symptoms of 

 passion or pain than an occasional groan. For about an hour and a 

 half in this manner a continuous discharge of musketry was kept up 

 against him, and no less than 152 bullets were expended before he 

 fell to the ground, where he lay nearly motionless, and was soon 

 despatched with a sword, which, after being secured upon the end of 

 a rifle, was plunged into his neck. The quantity of blood that 

 flowed was very considerable, and flooded the den to a great depth. 

 This was the same elephant who was the accidental cause of its 

 keeper's death, whose ribs it crushed four months back while in the 

 act of turning round in its den." 



After reading this account, we may well feel tempted to endorse the 

 opinion of a correspondent of "Land and Water" who remarks that 

 the like of it "can never occur again, thank God, in England." 



The history of the elephants would be manifestly imperfect, even 

 when detailed in the briefest manner, without a reference to their 

 present distribution and to the biography of the race in the past. 

 As in the case of many other groups of animals and plants, we can 

 only fully appreciate the modern relations of the elephants when 

 some knowledge of their development in the geological ages has 

 been obtained. In the eyes of the modern naturalist, the present of 

 any living being is not merely bound up in its past development, but 

 the existing conditions of any race become explicable in many cases 

 only when the former range of the group in time has been ascer- 

 tained. This holds especially true of the elephants; for the existing 

 species represent the remnants of a once larger and far more extensive 

 distribution of proboscidian life. Hence it behoves us to make the 

 acquaintance, firstly, of their present distribution, and secondly of 

 their distribution and development in past ages, if we are to under- 

 stand with any degree of completeness and mental satisfaction the 

 relations of the elephantine races. 



The distribution of the elephants on the earth as it now exists 

 may be disposed of in a very few words. The Indian species occurs 

 in Asia, from the Himalayas to Ceylon, whilst its range extends east- 

 wards to the Chinese borders, and southwards to Sumatra and 

 Borneo as well. The African species possesses as localised a habitat. 

 It was Swift who, remarking on the customs of geographers in his 

 day, said, 



So geographers in Afric maps 

 With savage pictures fill their gaps, 

 And o'er unhabitable downs 

 Place elephants for want of towns. 



