Chap. 11.] ELEPHANTS. 259 



the flies are crushed between the folds which are thus closed. 

 This power serves them in place of tail, mane, and hair. 68 



Their teeth are very highly prized, and from them we ob- 

 tain the most costly materials for forming the statues of the 

 gods. Luxury has discovered even another recommendation in 

 this animal, having found a particularly delicate flavour in the 

 cartilaginous part of the trunk, for no other reason, in my 

 belief, than because it fancies itself to be eating ivory. 69 Tusks 

 of enormous size are constantly to be seen in the temples ; 

 but, in the extreme parts of Africa, on the confines of JEthi- 

 opia, they are employed as door-posts for houses ; and Polybius 

 informs us, on the authority of the petty king Gulussa, 70 that 

 they are also employed as stakes in making fences for the folds 

 of cattle. 



CHAP. 11. (11.) IN WHAT COUNTRIES THE ELEPHANT IS FOUND; 

 THE ANTIPATHY OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE DRAGON. 



Africa produces elephants, beyond the deserts of the Syrtes, 

 and in Mauritania ; they are found also in the countries of the 

 ^Ethiopians and the Troglodytae, as mentioned above. 71 But 

 it is India that produces the largest, 72 as well as the dragon, 73 

 which is perpetually at war with the elephant, and is itself 

 of so enormous a size, as easily to envelope the elephants 

 with its folds, and encircle them in its coils. The contest is 

 equally fatal to both ; the elephant, vanquished, falls to the 

 earth, and by its weight, crushes the dragon which is entwined 

 around it. 74 



68 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B, ii. c. 1, remarks, that the elephant is the 

 least hairy of all animals. B. 



69 Cuvier remarks, that the trunk, being composed of a mixture of deli- 

 cate muscular fibres and rich fat, would, when properly prepared, afford an 

 article of food that might be very palatable. B. 



70 We learn from Livy, B. xlii. c. 23, that Gulussa was the son of Mas- 

 sinissa. B. 



71 In c. 8 of this Book. B. 



72 "NVe learn from Cuvier, that the elephants of Africa and Asia belong to 

 different species, distinguished by the form of the head, and some pecu- 

 liarities in the structure of the teeth. B. 



73 By the term " dragon," we may suppose that Pliny refers to some 

 of the great serpents which exist in hot climates, and are of such vast size, 

 that they might perhaps be able to perform some of the exploits here 

 ascribed to the dragon. B. 



74 This account appears to be entirely without foundation. B. 



