274 



THE ELEPHANT. 



[Part VIII. 



wliilst in Africa botli sexes have tusks, vnili some slight 

 disproportion in the size of those of the females ; and 

 whilst in India the females are pro\aded with them, 

 though of much less cUmensions than the males ; not 

 one elephant in a hundred is found with tusks in Ceylon, 

 and the few that possess them are exclusively males. 

 Nearly all, however, have those stunted processes which 

 are called tushes, about ten or twelve inches in length 

 and one or two in diameter, — these I have observed 

 them to use in snapping off small branches and chmbing 

 plants ; and hence tushes are seldom seen without a 

 groove worn into them near their extremities.^ 



Amongst other surmises more ingenious than sound, 

 the general absence of tusks in the elephant of Ceylon 

 has been associated mth the profusion of rivers and 

 streams in the island ; whilst it has been thrown out as 

 a possibility that in Afiica, where water is comparatively 

 scarce, the animal is equipped with these implements 

 in order to assist it in digging wells in the sand 

 and in raising the juicy roots of the mimosas and 

 succulent plants for the sake of their moisture. In sup- 

 port of this liy[3othesis, it has been observed, that whilst 

 the tusks of the Ceylon species, which are never re- 

 quired for such uses, are slender, graceful and curved, 

 seldom exceeding fifty or sixty pounds' weight, those 

 of the African species are straight and tliick, weighing 

 occasionally one hundred and fifty, and even three 

 hundred pounds.^ 



^ The old fallacy is still renewed, 

 that the elephant sheds his tusks. 

 yELiAN says he drops them once in 

 ten years (lib. xiv. c. 5) ; and Pliny 

 repeats the story, adding that, when 

 dropped, the elephants hide them un- 

 der gi-ound (lib. viii.) whence, Shaw 

 says, in his Zooloc/i/, "they are fre- 

 quently fomid in the woods," and ex- 

 ported from jVfrica (vol. i. p. 21.3) ; 

 and Sir W. Jardixf,, in the Kafu- 

 rulisfs Library (vol. ix. p. 110), says, 

 " the tusks are shed about the twelfth 



or thirteenth year." This is eiTO- 

 neous : after losing the first pair, or, 

 as they are called, the ''milk tusks," 

 which drop in consequence of the ab- 

 sorption of their roots, when the ani- 

 mal is extremely yoimg, the second 

 pair acquire their full size, and be- 

 come the " penniuient tusks," which 

 are never shed. 



~ Notwithstanding the inferiority 

 in weight of the Ceylon tusks, as com- 

 pared with those of the elephant of 

 India, it would, I think, be precipi- 



