104 



THE ELEPHANTS. 



Calm amid scenes of havoc, in his own 

 Huge strength impregnable, the Elephant 

 Offendeth none, but leads a quiet life 

 Among his own contemporary trees, 

 Till nature lays him gently down to rest, 

 Beneath the palm which he was wont to make 

 His prop in slumber ; there his relics lie 

 Longer than life itself had dwelt within them. 

 Bees in the ample hollow Of his skull 

 Fill their wax citadels, and store their honey ; 

 Thence sally forth to forage through the fields, 

 And swarm in emigrating legions thence. 

 There little burrowing animals throw up 

 Hillocks beneath the over arching ribs 

 While birds within the spinal labyrinth 

 Contrive their nests. 



THESE stupendous creatures inhabit the tropical 

 forests of Asia and Africa, living in troops or 

 herds, in a state of inoffensive quiet, unless when 

 attacked by some of their larger and stronger 

 animal assailants, or their powerful and more 

 relentless enemy, man. They delight in the 

 boundless forest, and in the vicinity of water, 



