Chap. II.] 



HABITS WIIEX WILD. 



299 



that of a man at full speed, but which he cannot maintain 

 for any considerable distance. 



It is to the structure of the knee-joint that the elephant 

 is indebted for his singular facility in ascenchng and 

 descending steep accli\ities, chmbing rocks and travers- 

 ing precipitous ledges, wdiere even a mule dare not 

 venture ; and this again leads to the correction of 

 another generally received error, that his legs are 

 " formed more for strength than flexibihty, and fitted to 

 bear an enormous weight upon a level surface, without 

 the necessity of ascenchng or descending great accli- 

 vities." ^ The same authority assumes that, although the 

 elephant is found in the neighbourhood of mountainous 

 ranges, and will even ascend rocky passes, such a service 

 is a violation of his natural habits. 



Of the elephant of Africa I am not quahfied to speak, 

 nor of the nature of the ground which he most frequents ; 

 but certainly the facts in connection with the elephant 

 of India are all irreconcilable with the tlieory men- 

 tioned above. In Bengal, in the Nilgherries, in Nepaul, 



where the weight of the body is 

 immense, the bones of the leg, in 

 order to present solidity and strength 

 to sustain it, are built in one firm 

 and pei-pendicidar colunui; instead 

 of being placed somewhat obliquely 

 at their points of contact. Thus 



whilst the force of the weight in 

 descending is broken and distributed 

 by this arrangement in the case of 

 the horse ; it woidd be so concen- 

 trated in the elephant as to endan- 

 ger every joint from the toe to the 

 shoidder. 



^ Menaf/crics, i)v., " The Elephant," i-li. ii. 



