Chap. II.] 



HABITS WHEN WILD. 



301 



would otherwise overbalance and force him headlong.^ 

 It is by the same arrangement that he is enabled, on un- 

 even ground, to hft Ms feet, which are tender and sen- 

 sitive, witli dehcacy, and plant them with such precision 

 as to ensure his own safety as well as that of objects 

 which it is expedient to avoid touching. 



A herd of elephants is a family. It is not a group 



^ Since the above passage was 

 written, I have seen in the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Binyal, 



vol. xiii. pt. ii. p. 916, a paper upon 

 this subject, illustrated by the sub- 

 joined diagTam. 



ELEPHANT DESCEKDING A DECLIVIT7. 



The writer says, "an elephant de- 

 scending a bank of too acute an 

 angle to admit of his walking down 

 it direct, (which, wei-e he to attempt, 

 his huge body, soon disarranging the 

 centre of gravity, would certainly 

 topple over,) proceeds thus. His 

 first manoeuvre is to kneel do^^Ti close 

 to the edge of the decli^-ity, placing 

 his chest to the gi-oimd : one fore-leg 

 is then cautiously passed a shoit way 

 down the slope ; and if there is no 

 natural protection to afford a firm 

 footing, he speedily forms one by 

 stamping into the soil if moist, or 

 kicking out a footing if dry. This 

 point gained, the other fore-leg is 

 Drought down in the sauie way ; and 



perfoi-ms the same work, a little in 

 advance of the first ; which is thu3 

 at liberty to move lower stUl. Then, 

 first one and then the second of the 

 hind legs is carefidly drawn over the 

 side, and the hind-feet in tiu^i occupy 

 the resting-places previously used and 

 left by the fore ones. The course, 

 howevei", in sucli precipitous gi-ound 

 is not straight from top to bottom, but 

 slopes along the face of the bank, 

 descending till the animal gains the 

 level below. This an elephant has 

 done, at an angle of 45 degi-ees, car- 

 rying a hoivdah, its occupant, his at- 

 tendant, and sporting apparatus ; and 

 in a much less time than it tallies to 

 describe the operation," 



