278 



THE ELEPHANT. 



[Part VIII. 



them. The elephant's natmiil timidity, however, is such 

 that he becomes alarmed on the appearance in the jungle 

 of any animal with wliich he is not famihar; he is 

 said to be afraid of the horse, but from my o^vn ex- 

 perience I should say it is the horse that is alarmed 

 at the aspect of the elephant ; in the same way, from 

 some unaccountable impulse, the horse has an antipathy 

 to the camel, and e^^nces extreme impatience, both of 

 the sight and the smell of that animal.^ Wlien enraged, 

 an elephant will not hesitate to charge a rider on 

 horseback ; but it is against the man, not against the 

 horse, that his fiuy is du"ected ; and no instance has been 

 ever known of liis wantonly assailing a horse. 



A horse, wliich belonged to the late Major Eogers^, 

 had run away from his groom, and was found some 

 considerable time afterwards grazing quietly vriih a 

 herd of elephants. Pigs are constantly to be seen feed- 

 ing about the stables of the tame elephants, wliich 

 manifest no repugnance to them. As to the smaller 

 animals, the elephant undoubted^ evinces uneasiness at 

 the presence of a dog, but tliis is referable to the same 

 cause as his impatience of a horse, namely, that neitlier 

 is habitually seen hj him in the forest ; but it would 

 be idle to suppose that this feehng could amount to 

 hostility against a creatm^e incapable of inflicting on 

 him the shghtest injury.^ The truth I apprehend to be 

 that, when they meet, the impudence and impertinences 



^ This peculiarity was noticed by 

 the ancients, and is recorded by He- 

 rodotus : " Kc't[lT)\0V 'ilTTTOQ (poQliTttl, Kai 



oi'K rti'£;(frai ovn ri)i' IShjv avriic ophov 

 ovri T)iv 6t^u)v ci(j<pp(avo^itvoQ^^ (Herod. 

 ch. 80). Camels have long been 

 bred by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 

 at his establishment near Pisa, and 

 even therethe same instinctive dis- 

 like to them is manifested by the 

 horse which it is necessary to train 

 and accustom to their presence in 

 order to avoid accidents. Mr. 



Brodeeip mentions, that, "when the 

 precaution of such training has not 

 been adopted, the sudden and dan- 

 gerous teiTor with which a horse is 

 seized in coming unexpectedly upon 

 one of them is excessive." — Note- 

 booh of a XafurdUst, ch. iv. p. 113. 



^ ^lajor Rogers was mauy years 

 the chief (i\\\\ officer of Government 

 in tlie district of Oovah, where he was 

 killed by lightning, 1845. 



^ To account for the impatience 

 manifested by the elephant at the 



