CuAr. I.] 



STRUCTURE AXD FUNCTIONS. 



283 



was labouring painfully to carry a heavy beam of timber, 

 Avliicli lie balanced across his tusks, but the pathway 

 being narrow, he was forced to bend his head to one 

 side to permit it to pass endways ; and the exertion and 

 inconvenience combined led him to utter the dissatis- 

 fied sounds wliich disturbed the composure of my horse. 

 On seeing us halt, the elephant raised his head, re- 

 connoitred us for a moment, then flung down the timber 

 and forced himself backwards among the brushwood 

 so as to leave a passage, of which he expected us to 

 avail ourselves. My horse still hesitated : the elephant 

 observed it, and impatiently thrust himself still deeper into 

 the jungle, repeating his cry of urmph ! but in a voice 

 evidently meant to encourage us to come on. Still 

 the horse trembled ; and anxious to observe the in- 

 stinct of the two sagacious creatures, I forbore any in- 

 terference : agam the elephant wedged himself further 

 in amongst the trees, and waited impatiently for us to 

 pass him ; and after the horse had done so trembhngly 

 and timidly, I saw the wise creature stoop and take up 

 his heavy bitrthen, trim and balance it on his tusks, and 

 resume his route, hoarsely snorting, as before, his discon- 

 tented remonstrance. 



Between the African elephant and that of Ceylon, with 

 the exception of the strildng pecuharity of the absence of 

 tusks in the latter, the distinctions are less apparent to a 

 casual observer than to a scientific naturahst. In the Cey- 

 lon species the forehead is higher and more hollow, the 

 cars are smaller, and, in a section of the teeth, the arindinir 

 ridges, instead of being lozenge-shaped, are transverse bars 

 of uniform breadth. ' 



' The Dutch naturalists liave re- 

 cently annoimced the discoveiy of 

 some peculiarities in the elephant of 

 Sumatra, which serve to distinguish 

 it from that of India and Africa; and, 

 as they allege, to entitle it to the rank 

 of a separate species to which they 



have given the name of E. Suma- 

 trensis. The supposed diilerences are 

 said to consist in the respective num- 

 ber of vertebra) and ribs, and some 

 variation in the ridges of tlie grinders. 

 — Crawfubd, Diet, of Indian Islands, 

 p. 13G. 



