83S 



KLKMENT ELEPHANT. 



European languages, it is well known, none but the 

 German have a rigid, established prosody ; hence 

 this language alone can produce etarie^ in the 

 ancient sense of the word. Goethe and Voss, like the 

 ancients, have happily applied this measure to joyful 

 subjects. In the oilier modern languages, elegy 

 always signifies a mournful poem. The characteris- 

 tic of true elegy is a calm and meditative contem- 

 plation of grief, not the wild agony of suffering. 

 Jacobi SITS of it "If I were to give a sensible 

 image of Klegy, I should not paint her as many have 

 done, in long robes of sorrow, with dishevelled liair 

 and a veiled brow, weeping over a coffin. I would 

 rather represent her as a nymph seated placidly, 

 with her head upon her hand, full of feeling and con- 

 templation. On her neglected locks should hang a 

 turn garland, and in her lap should lie a wreath of 

 faded flowers. A tomb should appear in the distance, 

 lialf concealed by a dark grove of cypress. Behind 

 should rise a hill, full of midding roses, and illum- 

 ined with the rays of the rising sun." 



ELEMENT ; a term applied in chemistry to a 

 body which has not yet been decomposed. The ele- 

 ments of the ancients were bodies which they sup- 

 posed to be absolutely simple, and capable of form- 

 ing all other bodies by their mutual combination ; 

 whereas the elements of the modems are regarded as 

 simple, merely in respect to the present state of the 

 art of analyzing bodies. The progress of chemical 

 science, for several centuries past, has mainly con- 

 sisted in carrying still farther the analysis of bodies, 

 and in proving those to be compound, which had 

 before been thought elementary. See Chemistry. 



ELEPHANT. This well known and sagacious 

 animal belongs to the order of pac/iydermala, or 

 thick-skinned animals. Desmarest recognises two 

 recent species, the Asiatic (E. Indicus), and the 

 African, (E. Africanus) ; of which the former is the 

 largest, most readily domesticated, and best known. 

 There are also several extinct species, whose remains 

 are met with in almost every part of the world. Few 

 quadrupeds have attracted more attention from man- 

 kind than the elephant. Formed as it were for the 

 sen-ice of man in warm climates, it possesses every 

 attribute that can render it useful. It is strong, 

 active, and persevering, and so docile and sagacious 

 as to be trained to almost any service. It is not 

 easy to convey in words a distinct idea of the form 

 of any animal. Words, it is true, may assist the 

 imagination in recalling forms with which it is already 

 familiar ; but no description, however clear and pre- 

 cise, can give the mind that strong and distinct 

 impression of a new image, which is made by the 

 reality, or even by a representation. This difficulty 

 is peculiarly felt in attempting to describe the, ele- 

 phant. His eyes are extremely small, his ears very 

 large and pendulous. The whole form is awkward, 

 the head being large, the body thick, and the back 

 much arched ; the legs are very clumsy and shape- 

 less, the feet slightly divided into, or, more properly, 

 edged with, five rounded hoofs ; the tail is some- 

 what like that of a hog, and fringed at the extremity 

 by a few very thick, long, black hairs. The skin is 

 generally of a deep ash -brown, approaching to black, 

 though it is sometimes white or cream-coloured ; 

 skin of this last sort are highly prized, being one of 

 the attributes of royalty in Siam, one of the titles of 

 whose king is, lord of the white elephant. The tusks 

 are not visible in young animals, but in a more ad- 

 vanced stage of growth, they are eminently conspi- 

 cuous, ana in a state of maturity they project, in 

 some instances, seven or eight feet. The largest 

 tusk on record was sold at Amsterdam, which 

 weighed 350 Ibs. Several tusks measured by Eden, 

 were nine feet in length ; and Hartenfels measured 



one which exceeded fourteen feet. Elepliants some- 

 times attain the height of fifteen feet, but their gen- 

 eral height is about nine or ten. Their weight is 

 sometimes enormous, being from four to nine thou- 

 sand pounds. The female is gravid twenty morths, 

 and seldom produces more than one at a birth : this, 

 when first born, is about three feet high, and con- 

 tinues to glow till it is sixteen or eighteen years of 

 age. It is said they live to the age of one hundred 

 years and upwards. They feed on vegetables, the 

 young shoots of trees, grain, and fruit. The most 

 singular part of the structure of the elephant is his 

 trunk, which is peculiar to this animal, though the 

 long and flexible snout of the tapir bears some 

 resemblance to it. It appears to be an extension- of 

 the canals of the nose ; it is cartilaginous, and com- 

 posed of numerous rings, divided through its whole 

 length by a septum, and terminates in a kind of 

 movable finger. It is of such strength as to be capable 

 of breaking off large branches from trees, whilst, 

 at the same time, it is endowed with such exquisite 

 sensibility, that it can grasp the smallest object. 



The disposition of the elephant is gentle, and his 

 manners social ; hence they are seldom seen except 

 in troops. The wild elephants of Ceylon, which are 

 much esteemed, live in small troops or families. In 

 wandering from place to place, the males, who are 

 furnished with the largest tusks, put themselves at 

 the head, and are the first to face every danger. In 

 swimming over any large river, they lead the van , 

 and seek a proper landing place : next follow the 

 young elephants, clinging to each other by means of 

 their trunks, whilst the remainder of the full grown 

 bring up the rear. These animals have, in all ages, 

 been eagerly hunted. Some of the arts which have 

 been employed to kill them or take them merit atten- 

 tion. The Hottentots in South Africa shoot them with 

 tin balls : this chase is attended with considerable dan- 

 ger; for, with every precaution that can be used, 

 the sagacity of the elephant often detects the ap- 

 proach of the hunter, who, in this case, will, in all 

 probability, fall a victim to the rage of the animal, 

 unless he can instantly disable him. Spur man. 



In the island of Sumatra, the inhabitants split 

 sugar canes, of which food the elephant is very fond, 

 and impregnate them with poison. Marsden. 



In Abyssinia, they are pursued by hunters on 

 horseback, in the following manner : Two men, per- 

 fectly naked, mount the same horse, the hindermost 

 is armed with a broadsword, the lower part of which 

 is covered with cord, and the remainder is exceed- 

 ingly sharp. In this manner they pursue the ele- 

 phants, and, having singled out one, they irritate 

 him to attack them, when they ride up close to him, 

 and the armed man slips from the horse on the off 

 side, and, whilst the elephant's attention is engaged 

 with the horse, he divides the tendons of his foot 

 with a single blow, and thus disables him, when 

 he is despatched by lances. Bruce. 



They are also taken alive in pitfalls, or are driven 

 into enclosures ; in either case they are fed scantily, 

 though regularly, for a few days, when tame ele- 

 phants are employed to engage their attention till 

 they can be tied fast to a tree ; after they have be- 

 come somewhat dispirited, they are led away between 

 two tame ones, and put under the care of keepers, 

 who gradually bring them into subjection, more, 

 however, by caresses and soothing than by coercion. 

 When tamed, they become the most gentle and 

 obedient of all domestic animals, and, in most cases, 

 are exceedingly fond of their keepers, and soon learn 

 to distinguish the various tones of the human voice, 

 as expressive of anger, approbation, or command. 

 The domesticated elephant performs more work than 

 six horses, but at the same time requires much cars 



