178 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



feet. A waggon was brought the same night, and the mangled body carried to the hunter's 

 camp on the banks of the Ramokvvebani, where it was buried. 



The strength of the elephant is proverbial ; and in India and Burma, where this animal has 

 for ages past been trained in the service of man, this power is habitually made use of in moving 

 and stacking large baulks of timber, or in dragging heavy guns through muddy ground or up 

 steep ascents. In Africa the traveler is often astonished at the size of trees which have been 

 uprooted and overturned by elephants. These trees, however, have no tap-root, and have not 

 therefore a very firm hold in the ground, especially during the rainy season, when the ground is 

 soft. At this time of year large trees are butted down by elephants, which push against their 

 stems with the thick part of their trunks, and get them on the swing, until the roots become 

 loosened and the trees are at last overturned. Small trees of 2 or 3 inches in diameter, as well 

 as branches, they break off with their trunks. In 1878 a tuskless bull elephant I met the same 



animal again in 1885, and he is the only African bull elephant without tusks I have ever seen 



killed a native hunter in Mashonaland. This man, a big powerful Zulu and a great friend of my 

 own, was torn into three pieces. I imagine that, after having caught him, the elephant held the 

 unfortunate man down with his foot or knee, and then, twisting his trunk round his body, tore 

 him asunder surely a terrible exhibition of strength. 



The elephant is a very slow-going and long-lived animal, not arriving at maturity until 

 upwards of thirty years of age ; and since cases are on record of elephants having lived for 

 upwards of 130 years in captivity in India, it is probable that in a wild state these animals, both in 

 Asia and Africa, often attain to an age of 150 years. The female elephant produces, as a rule, but 

 one calf at birth, the period of gestation lasting from eighteen to nearly twenty-two months. 

 The mammae of the cow elephant are placed between the fore legs, and the new-born calf sucks 

 with its mouth, holding its trunk turned back over its head. I have seen elephant calves so 

 engaged. 



Although there is no reason to doubt that the African elephant is as intelligent as the Asiatic 

 species, its domestication has never been attempted by the Negro or Bantu races of Africa. It is 

 believed, however, that the African elephant 

 was in ancient times domesticated by the 

 Carthaginians, and used by them in their wars 

 with the Romans. The opinion, too, is gen- 

 erally held that the elephants with which Han- 

 nibal crossed the Alps were of the African spe- 

 cies, as well as those which, after the conquest 

 of Carthage, were used in the Roman amphi- 

 theatres and military pageants. On the other 

 hand, it is well to remember that the late Mr. 

 W. Cotton Oswell, who had had great ex- 

 perience both with African and Asiatic ele- 

 phants, wrote as follows on this subject : " I 

 believe some people suppose the Carthaginians 

 tamed and used the African elephant they could 

 hardly have had mahouts Indian fashion, for 

 there is no marked depression in the nape of 

 the neck for a seat, and the hemming of the 

 ears when erected would have half smothered 



them. My knowledge does not allow me to photo by j. W. McLean] [m^ur, 



raise any argument on this point ; but might AFRICAN ELEPHANT 



not the same market have been open to the Tbe difference , profiu benuetn tbis and tbe Indian sfecies is noticeable. 



dwellers at Carthage as Was afterwards tO Tbe forehead is receding and the ears much larger in tbe African species 



