228 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



was actually attempting to permeate the sinus with a 

 piece of dead twig selected from a bundle of hay. The 

 elephant stood still and patiently waited for the keeper 

 to use a smooth stick, kept for that purpose, in clear- 

 ing the obstructed passage. 



The Asiatic or Indian elephant is more docile 

 and tractable than the African ; and in a captive state 

 is employed as a beast of burden. Having been shown 

 where to drag timber the faithful creatures will work 

 all day just as shown in the morning, two or three 

 together using their trunks, tusks, and even shoulders 

 in the process of piling up lumber, bales, boxes, and 

 barrels. Besides being found in India, the Asiatic 

 elephant is met in Burmah, Siam, Ceylon, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. The ears of the Indian elephant are 

 small when compared with those of the African spe- 

 cies. The forehead of the Asiatic elephant is flat and 

 even indented, while that of the African is convex 

 and bulging. 



An albino or white elephant, a rare creature, has 

 superstitiously ascribed to it certain protective powers 

 which extend to its owners. The primitive Indian 

 princes used to wage long and bloody wars for the 

 possession of one of these strangely marked beasts. 



An interesting peculiarity of elephantidse is that 

 more species are extinct than now living. This has 

 led to the speculation that the two species, Asiatic 

 and African, now on earth, are late lingerers of a 

 race on its way to extinction. The theory is pre- 

 sented that a cold period in the earth's history 

 killed off all of the elephant family except such 

 as were accidentally protected in tropical latitudes. 

 And the theory obtains some support from the fact 

 that carcasses of mammoths have been found pre- 



