328 THE ELEPHANT. [rARX YIIT. 



Even tlie hunters avIio go in search of them fnid them 

 in positions and occupations altogether inconsistent with 

 the idea of their being savage, wary, or revengeful. 

 Then" demeanour when undisturbed is indicative of gen- 

 tleness and timidity, and their actions bespeak lassitude 

 and indolence induced not alone by heat, but probably 

 ascribable in some degree to the fact that the night had 

 been spent in watchfidness and amusement. A few are 

 generally browsing listlessly on the trees and plants within 

 reach, others fanning themselves with leafy branches and 

 a few are asleep ; whilst the young run playfully among 

 the herd, the emblems of mnocence, as the older ones are 

 of peacefulness and gravity. 



Almost every elephant may be observed to exhibit 

 some i^eculiar action of the hmbs when standing at 

 rest ; some move the head monotonously in a circle, 

 or from right to left ; some swdng their feet back and 

 forward ; others flap their ears or sway themselves from 

 side to side, or rise and sink by alternately bending 

 and straightening the fore knees. As the opportunities 

 of observing: tliis custom have been almost confined to 

 elephants in captivity, it has been conjectured to 

 arise from some morbid habit contracted during the 

 length of a voyage by sea ^, or from an instinctive 

 impulse to substitute a motion of this kind in lieu of 

 theu" wonted exercise ; but this supposition is erroneous ; 

 the propensity being equally displayed by those at 

 liberty and those in captivity. When surprised by 

 sportsmen in the depths of the jungle, individuals of 

 a herd are always occupied in SAvinging their limbs 

 in this manner ; and in the several corrals which I 

 have seen, where whole herds have been captured, the 

 elephants, in the midst of the utmost excitement, 

 and even after the most vigorous charges, if they 

 stood still for a moment in stupor and exhaustion, 



' Menageries, ^-c, " The Elephaut/' ch. i. p. 21. 



