554 



ELEPHANT. 



with the success of the experiment, yet I was rather 

 ' chagrined he had not givm me notice, that I might have 

 been myself an eye-witness, and therefore told him lie 

 hould not receive the promised reward till 1 had satis- 

 fied myself of the fact 



" About two in the afternoon of the same day, I was 

 desired to repair to the place where the elephants stood, 

 s the male liad been trying to get nearer the female. 

 On this I proceeded to the spot, when I ordered the 

 male to be freed from his shackles, and after some toy- 

 ing, and a few mutual caresses, I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing him cover the female. When the male mount- 

 ed, he placed one of his fore legs on each sideof her spine, 

 with his feet turned to and pressing against her shoul- 

 ders, and his trunk round her neck, supporting him- 

 self firmly in this position during coition, which he ac- 

 complished nearly in the same time, and in the same 

 manner, as a horse with a mare. 



" In three months after she was covered, she became 

 fuller, her flesh felt softer, and her breasts began to 

 swell. During the period of her pregnancy, she like- 

 wise increased considerably in height. When covered 

 she was only seven feet three inches high, but before 

 she brought forth, she exceeded seven feet eight inches. 

 On the lo'th of March 1795, she produced a fine male, 

 just twenty months and eighteen days after she was 

 first covered." Subsequent observations liave convinced 

 Mr Corse Scott that this is the ordinary period of ges- 

 tation, and that there is no difference as to the length of 

 tlie term, whether the elephant is pregnant with a male 

 or a female calf. Many Europeans, and generally all 

 the natives of Bengal, believe that there is a difference 

 of two months, but this opinion is now found to be er- 

 roneous. 



The young elephant, at its birth, is about thirty-five 

 inches high, and increases in size during the first seven 

 years, in the following proportions, according to Mr 

 Corse Scott : 



Feet. Inches. 



Height at birth 211 high 



In one year he grew 1 1 inches, and was 3 10 



In the second year 



In the third year 



In the fourth year 



In the fifth year 



In the sixth year 



In the seventh year 



The young elephant begins to nibble and suck the 

 breast soon after birth. He presses it with his trunk, 

 in order to cause the milk to flow more readily while 

 sucking. The mother never lies down to give her 

 young ones suck, but sometimes bends her body to- 

 wards them ; and the keeper, in order that they may 

 grasp the nipple more readily, frequently raises a little 

 mound of earth under the mother's belly. The affection 

 of the mother, it would appear, is by no means great. 

 In a tamed state she is never suffered to remain loose, as 

 instances have frequently occurred of a love of liberty 

 overcoming maternal fondness, and inducing her to for- 

 sake her young one, and flee to the woods. If a wild ele- 

 phant happenstobe separated from her youngforonly two 

 days, (which often happens in the enclosure into which 

 they are driven to be taken,) though giving suck, she 

 never niter recognises it, although the young elepliant 

 khould know its dam, and by its plaintive cries and 

 submissive approaches solicit her assistance. 



It would appear that in a wild state elephants have Elephant 

 no particular ,-c.i-o n nt' love n> other annuals. Thefe- '""V-"*' 

 males taken in India, while in a state* of pregnancy, pro- 

 duced tlu-ir lull grown young in different months of 

 r. The It-male is said to be disposed to receive 

 the embraces ot' die male before she arrives at the age 

 of fourteen. 



Destined to feed on the vegetable productions of the Encaie*. 

 earth, the elephant lives at peace with the other inhabi- 

 tants of the forest. His great size and strength renders 

 him an object of terror; as with such power mid such 

 sagacity, neither the lion nor tile tiger can contend with 

 any prospect of success. Were he to exercise his vast 

 powers in offensive operations, or were he prolific in 

 proportion to his size, he would soon become the master 

 of the wood. But man, even in his rudest state, appears 

 destined to cheek his progress. Even when untutored 

 by civilization, he kindles a fire, and the elephant re- 

 treats in terror ; he poisons an arrow, and inflicts a 

 wound which speedily ends in death ; or he digs a pit, 

 and the huge monster, unconscious of danger, is sud- 

 denly arrested. 



The elepliant is pursued for the sake of his flesh by 

 the Hottentots of the Cape. When Sparmian in his 

 travels at the Cape baited at the Diep river, several Hot- 

 tentots of the Boshiesman race, who were in the ser- 

 vice of the fanner, had their huts, which were compo- 

 sed of straw, covered with large slips of elephant's flesh, 

 cut out irregularly in strings of the thickness of two 

 or three fingers breadth, and strung together to the 

 length of several yards. Some of them were wound 

 round the huts, while others were stretched from one 

 hut to another, for the purpose of drying them. At 

 that time, the men, women, and children in the place, 

 had no other employment but to sleep, smoke, ana gor- 

 mandise upon elephant's flesh. The feet and the trunk 

 are reckoned the most delicious pieces. 



As the tusks of the elephant form the well-known ar Vie, 

 tide IVORY, a considerable temptation is held out to the 

 huntsman to endeavour to kill these animals. Attempts 

 of this sort appear to be attended with no small difficul- 

 ty. From two fanners employed in a hunt of this kind, 

 Sparrman obtained the following interesting narrative. 

 The evening on which they observed the wild elephant, 

 they determined to pursue it on horseback, though they 

 never before had seen one. Their horses, though equally 

 unaccustomed as their riders to the sight of this colossus- 

 like animal, yet did not flinch in the least ; nor indeed 

 did the elephant appear to give himself any trouble 

 about them till they came within sixty or seventy paces 

 of him. At that moment, one of the party, agree- 

 ably to the usual manner of the Cape huntsmen, jump- 

 ed from his horse, and fastening the bridle, fell upon 

 one knee, and with his left hand sticking his ramrod 

 into the ground, rested his gun upon it, took his aim, 

 and fired at the elephant, which had then got about 

 forty or fifty paces farther off; for in this country 

 when they hunt the larger kinds of animals, they com- 

 monly choose to take the opportunity of firing at the 

 distance of one hundred and fifty paces, both because 

 they load their pieces in such a manner, that the ball, 

 as they think, does most execution at that distance ; and 

 also they can in this way gain time to mount their hor- 

 ses again and ride oft', before the wounded animal can 

 make up to them to take his revenge. Our sportsman 

 had scarcely got into the saddle, and turned round his 

 hone's head, before he found that the elephant was at 

 his heels. At that very instant, the animal set up a 



