(II 



KLEP1 



ELEl'l 



til 



Cone rrUte* (a iiuUuoa of the ungovernable passions and terrible 

 karoo occasioned by the savage disposition of one, or at leant a 

 large male that waa supposed to be one, when in the Keddah.* >(< 

 waa at Irngth tied and led out, but his untameablo spirit could not 

 brook restraint, and after languishing about forty day* he died. 



Mr. Hodgson, in bin paper ' On the Mammalia of Nepaul ' (' Zool. 

 Proc.,' 18S4), suggest* that there are two varieties, or perhaps rather 

 specif* of the Indian Elephant, Klrphat Indicia, namely, the Ceylonese, 

 mud that of the Saul Foreet The Ceylonese has a smaller and lighter 

 head, which is carried more derated ; it hiw also higher fore 

 quarters. The elephant of the Saul Forest has sometimes naiU on 

 it* hinder feet 



The height to which the Asiatic Elephant will attain has been 

 Tariouidy stated : but upon a strict examination of alleged great 

 heights, the natural disposition among men to exaggerate has 

 generally been detected. 



A male elephant recorded by Mr. Corse wan at its birth 35 inches high. 

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



In the 2nd year 

 In the 3rd year 

 In the 4th year 

 In the 5th year 

 ID the 6th year 

 In the 7th year 

 A female elephant \ 



6 

 

 5 



10 

 14 



) 6 feet 9 inches high at the time she came into 



Mr. Cone's possession, and was supposed to be 14 years old according 

 to the hunters ; but, according to the belief of Mr. Corse, she was 

 only 11 yean of age. During the next 5 years, before she was 

 covered, she grew only six inches, but, while pregnant, she grew 

 S inches in 21 months, and in the following 17 months, though again 

 pregnant, she grew only half an inch. Mr. Corse then lost sight of 

 her. She was at this time about 19 years old, and had perhaps 

 attained her full growth. Her young one was then not 20 months 

 old, yet he was 4 feet 54 inches high, having grown 18 inches since 

 his birth. It thus appears that no certain standard of growth, for 

 captive elephants at least, can be depended on : nor do there seem 

 to be any satisfactory data for denning the age at which the animal 

 ceases to grow. Mr. Corse conjectures that elephants attain their 

 full growth between the ages of 18 and 24. With regard to the 

 height, the East India Company's standard for serviceable elephants 

 was, in Mr. Corse's time, 7 feet and upwards, measured at the 

 shoulder in the same manner as horses are. At the middle of the 

 back they are considerably higher ; and the curve or arch, particu- 

 larly in young elephants, makes a difference of several inches. The 

 Ifmrning of this curve is a sign of old age when not brought on by 

 disnssri or violence. During the war with Tippoo Sultaun, of the 

 150 elephant* under the management of Captain Sandys, not one was 

 10 feet high, and only a few males 94 feet high. Mr. Corse was very 

 particular in ascertaining the height of the elephants employed at 

 Madras, and with the army under Marquis Cornwall!*, where there 

 were both Ceylon and Bengal elephant*, and he was assured that 

 those of Ceylon were neither higher nor superior, in any respect, to 

 those of Bengal : nay, some officers asserted that they were consider- 

 ably inferior in point of utility. 



The only elephant ever heard of by Mr. Corse as exceeding 1 feet, 

 on good authority, was a male belonging to Aaaph Ul Dowlali, 

 formerly vizier of Oude. The following were his dimensions : 



Feet. Incite*. 



From foot to foot over the shoulder 

 From the top of the shoulder, perpendicular height 

 From the top of the head, when set up an he ought 

 to march in state 



22 

 10 



104 



6 



12 

 From the front of the face to the insertion of the tail 15 



2 

 11 



And yet the Madras elephants have been said to be from 17 to 

 20 feet high. Now let us see how dimensions shrink before the 

 severity of measurement. Mr. Cone heard from several gentlemen who 

 had been at Dacca, that the Nabob there had an elephant about 1 4 feet 

 high. Mr. Corse waa desirous to measure him, especially as he had 

 Mao the elephant often at a former period, and then supposed him to 

 be 12 feet high. He accordingly went to Dacca. At first be sent for 

 the nnhotf, or driver, who without facilitation aaaured him that the 

 elephant was from 10 to 12 cubiu, that is, from 15 to 18 feet high ; 

 but added that he could not bring the elephant for Mr. Cone's exami- 

 nation without the Nabob's permission. Permuaion waa asked and 

 granted. Mr. Cone measured the elephant exactly, and was rather 

 surprised to find that the animal did not exceed 10 feet in height 



The elephant is subject to albinism, and the white elephant* to 

 much esteemed by the Indian sovereigns are merely Albinos. 



The Asiatic Elephant inhabit* the greater part of the warm coun- 

 tries of Asia, and the large islands of the Indian Archipelago. Mr. 

 Corse states that the elephants for the service of the East Indin 

 Company are generally taken in the provinces of Chittagong and 

 Tiperah; but from what ha had beard, those to the southward of 

 Chittagong, in the Binnah territories and kingdom of Pegu, are of n 

 superior breed. In confirmation of this opinion, he observes that 



Ktooaa Is Uw n.m> of tb uwlgcors Into which UM wild elephants arc 

 felrea sad IBM taptarad. 



the rlepbanta taken to the south of the Uoomty Hirer, which divides 

 the province of Tiperah from east to west, were generally better than 

 those taken to the north of that river ; and though elephants were 

 taken at Pilibet as far north as 29 N. lat in the viu> t. n i- 



tories, yet the vizier, and also the officers of hi* court, gave those 

 taken in Chittagong and Tiperah a de. id.-.l preference, they being 

 much larger and stronger than the Pilibrt elephant Till the year 

 1790 Tipernli was a part of the Chittagong province ; and so sensible 

 was the Bengal government of the superiority of the southern 

 elephants for carrying burdens, enduring fatigue, and being leas 

 liable to oaanaltiea, tbat in the then late contracts for supplying the 

 army, the < was bound not to send any rl'-phaiit to the 



military stations taken north of the Chittagong province. Hence 

 Mr. i'i.n concludes the torrid zone to be the natural clime, and the 

 most favourable for producing the largest, the best, and the hardiest 

 elephant ; and that when this animal migrates beyond the tropics the 

 species degenerates. He speaks of elephants being taken on the coast 

 of Malabar as far north as the territories of the Coorgah Raja ; out 

 adds that these were much inferior to the Ceylon elephant, nnd that 

 from this circumstance the report of the superiority of the Ceylon 

 elephant to all others probably originated. H remarks that most of 

 the previous accounts respecting the Asiatic Elephant had been given 

 by gentlemen who resided many years ago on the coast of Malabar or 

 Coromandel, where, at that time, they hod but few opportunities of 

 seeing the Chittagong or the Pegu elephant 



Mr. Hodgson, in the paper above noticed, states that Eltpkai 

 Indicia and Rhinoceros unicornii are both abundant in the forests 

 and hills of the lower region of Nepaul, whence, in tlie rainy season, 

 they issue into the cultivated parts of the Tarii to feed upon the rice 

 crop*. 



Asiatic Elephant (Etrpliat Indicia). 



In a state of nature the Asiatic Elephant lives in great herds, whii-h 

 are generally said to be under the conduct of the old moles, or bulls, 

 as they ore sometimes termed. From time immemorial the species 

 has been brought under the dominion of man.t ami trained to swell 

 the pomp of pageants, and add to the terrors of war, as well as to 

 perform the more useful offices of a beast of burden and draught, 

 and the more dreadful one of executing the sentence, of deatli on 

 criminals. It has been long made the companion of the sport* of the 

 Orientalist in the great bunting parties ; and from the gome early 

 period has been made to minister to tbo wanton and cruel pleasures 

 of Eastern prince*, by being stimulated to combat not only with other 

 elephant* but with various wild animal*. The render will find in the 

 second volume of the ' Mcnngei -ic* ' in the ' Library of Knli-i-tainiu^; 

 Knowledge,' an abundant and amusing c'li rti.m of an. .-.i,,te* con- 

 nected with this subject, a well as a complete History of the Kl.-plianl, 

 both in the wild state and as the servant of man. 



The tusks of both species still form, as they did from the earliest 

 periods, a valuable article of commerce. The iv.iry whieh is now 

 sought for useful purposes and ornaments of miii.>r important 

 in great request with the ancient Greeks and Romans for various 

 domestic uses, as well as for the chrys-elephantin.' statuary rendered 

 so famous by Phidiiw. Of these rich statues the Minerva of tho 

 Parthenon, and especially the Olympian Jupiter, appear to have been 

 the masterpieces. 



/:. .\f,-;.-nni, the African Elephant This animal is less than the 

 Asiatic. The head is rounded; the front con vex instead of concave; 



" Mr. Corae'i paper wa rca.l U f.iro ihc Itouil Sm-icty in 1799. 



f Tbe earlier t extant account in any European languages of the mode of 

 capturing thr Irrtinn Irj.lnnt ! in Arrlnn, ' l<llk,' chnp. 13. 



