13 



ELEPHANT. 



ELEPHANT. 



611 



the ears are much larger than those of the Asiatic species ; and the 

 general number of nails on each hind foot is only 3 instead of 4. 



It is found in Africa from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Cuvier says that it is not known whether the species is found up the 

 whole oriental side of Africa, or whether it is there replaced by^ the 

 preceding species. 



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African Elephant (Elrphas Africantu). 



The flesh of this creature is relished by the inhabitants of many 

 districts of Africa, Major Denham speaks of it aa being esteemed by 

 all, and even eaten in secret by the first people about the sheikh ; 

 and he says that, though it looked coarse, it was better flavoured than 

 any beef he found in the country. The ancient Romans considered 

 the trunk as the moat delicious part ; but Le Vaillan t speaks of the 

 foot as a dish for a king, and more recent travellers bestow on it equal 

 praise. The disposition of this species is supposed to be more fero- 

 cious than that of the Asiatic Elephant, though its habits in a state of 

 nature do not greatly differ. It is not now tamed ; but there is good 

 ground for believing that the Carthaginians availed themselves of the 

 services of this species as the Indians did of those of the Asiatic 

 Elephant. The elephants exhibited in the Koman arena by Cajsar 

 and Pompey appear to have been African ; and from them princi- 

 pally, if not entirely, the ivory for ornamental purposes and the statues 

 before alluded to seems to have been taken. The tusks of this species 

 are of great size. 



The number of the tusks brought to England is very large. In 

 Sheffield alone it is stated that upwards of 45,000 tusks are annually 

 consumed. The workers in ivory in that town are above 500 hi 

 number, and the value of the tusks is about 30,0002. per annum. 



Fotsil Elephante. 



The third and fourth divisions of the tertiary fresh-water deposits 

 (Pliocene period of Lyell) abound in extinct species of recent genera, 

 and among them the remains of Fossil Elephants are very numerous. 

 The alluvium, the crag, the ossiferous caverns, the osseous breccias, 

 and the subapennine formations afford the most numerous examples. 

 Cuvier (' Rcgne Animal,' last edit.) observes that there are found 

 under the earth, in almost all parts of both continents, the bones of 

 a species of elephant approximating to the existing Asiatic species, 

 but whose grinders have the ribands of enamel narrower and straighter, 

 the alveoli of the tusks longer in proportion, and the lower jaw more 

 obtuse. An individual, he adds, found in the ice on the coasts of 

 Silx'ria, appeared to have been covered with hair of two sorts, so that 

 it might have been possible for this species to have lived in cold 

 climates. The species has, he concludes, long since disappeared from 

 the face of the globe. This species he characterises (' Ossemens Fos- 

 siles ') as having an elongated skull ; a concave front ; very long alveoli 

 for the tusks ; the lower jaw obtuse ; the grinders larger, parallel, 

 and marked with closer-set ribands of enamel ; and he designates it 

 as the Fossil Elephant (Elephas primiffenim of Blumenbach ; Elephas 

 Mammontcut of Fischer ; the Mammoth of the Russians). 



Mammoths' or elephants' bones and tusks occur throughout Russia, 

 and more particularly in Eastern Siberia and the arctic marshes, &c. 

 The tusks are very numerous, and in so high a state of preservation 

 that they form an article of commerce, and are employed in the same 

 works as what may be termed the living ivory of Asia and Africa, 

 though the fossil tusks fetch an inferior price. Siberian fossil ivory 

 forms the principal material on which the Russian ivory-turner works. 

 The tusks most abound in the Laichovian Isles and on the shores of 

 ni/rn Sea; and the best are found in the countries near the 

 arctic circle, and in the most eastern regions, where the soil in the 

 very short summer is thawed only at the surface : in some years not 

 at all. In 1799 aTungusian, named Schumachoff, who generally went 

 to hunt and fish at the peninsula of Tamut after the fishing season of 



HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



the Lena was over, had constructed for his wife some cabins on the 

 banks of the lake Oncoul, and had embarked to seek along the coasts 

 for Mammoth horns (tusks). One day he saw among the blocks of 

 ice a shapeless mass, but did not then discover what it was. In 1800 

 he perceived that this object was more disengaged from the ice, and 

 that it had two projecting parts ; and towards the end of the summer 

 of 1801 the entire side of the animal and one of his tusks were quite 

 free from ice. The summer of 1802 was cold, but in 1803 part of the 

 ice between the earth and the Mammoth, for such was the object, 

 having melted more rapidly than the rest, the plane of its support 





Skull of Fossil Elephant (Eltphas Frimigenitu). 



became inclined, and the enormous mass fell by its own weight on a 

 bank of sand. In March 1804 Schumachoff came to his Mammoth, 

 and having cut off the tusks exchanged them with a merchant for 

 goods of the value of 50 rubles. We shall now let Mr. Adams, from 

 whose account these particulars are abridged, speak for himself : 



" Two years afterwards, or the seventh after the discovery of the 

 Mammoth, I fortunately traversed these distant and desert regions, 

 and I congratulate myself in being able to prove a fact which appears 

 so improbable. I found the Mammoth still in the same place, but 

 altogether mutilated. The prejudices being dissipated because the 

 Tungusian chief had recovered his health,* there was no obstacle to 

 prevent approach to the carcase of the Mammoth ; the proprietor was 

 content with his profit from the tusks, and the Jakutski of the neigh- 

 bourhood had cut off the flesh, with which they fed their dogs during 

 the scarcity. Wild beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, 

 and foxes, also fed upon it, and the traces of their footsteps were seen 

 around. The skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained 

 whole, with the exception of one fore leg. The spine from the head 

 to the os coccygisjt one scapula, the basin and the other three extre- 

 mities, were still held together by the ligaments and by parts of the 

 skin. The head was covered with a dry skin ; one of the ears, well 

 preserved, was furnished with a tuft of hairs. All these parts have 

 necessarily been injured in transporting them a distance of 11,000 

 worsts (7330 miles) ; yet the eyes have been preserved, and the pupil 

 of the eye can still be distinguished. J This Mammoth was a male, 

 with a long mane on the neck, but without tail or proboscis." (The 

 places of the insertion of the muscles of the proboscis are, it is asserted, 

 visible on the skull, and it was probably devoured as well as the end 

 of the tail.) " The skin, of which I possess three-fourths, is of a dark 

 grey colour, covered with a reddish wool and black hairs. The damp- 

 ness of the spot where the animal had lain so long had in some degree 

 destroyed the hair. The entire carcase, of which I collected the bones 

 on the spot, is 4 archines (9 feet 4 inches) high, and 7 archines (16 

 feet 4 inches) long from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, 

 without including the tusks, which are a toise and a half (9 feet 6 

 inches, measuring along the curve ; the distance from the base or root 

 of the tusk to the point is 3 feet 7 inches) in length ; the two toge- 

 ther weighed 360 Ibs. avoirdupois ; the head alone with the tusks 

 weighs 114 poods (414 Ibs. avoirdupois). The principal object of my 

 care was to separate the bones, to arrange them, and put them up 

 safely, which was done with particular attention. I had the satis- 

 faction to find the other scapula, which had remained not far off. 

 I next detached the skin of the side on which the animal had lain, 

 which was well preserved. This skin was of such extraordinary weight 

 that ten persons found great difficulty in transporting it to the shore. 

 After this I dug the ground in different places to ascertain whether 

 any of its bones were buried, but principally to collect all the hairs 



* He had fallen sick from alarm on first hearing of the discovery, as it was 

 considered a bad omen. 



t An error, as of 28 or 30 caudal vertebra! only 8 remained, 

 j This is doubtful j a dried substance is visible. 



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