DIRK MARCUS AND THE ELEPHANT. 501 



this elephant beef, by being suspended in the open air, and 

 dried in the intense heat of the sun, can be kept for a conside- 

 rable time, and is said not to be very unpalatable. The trunk 

 is an especially delicate morsel, because the muscles in it, 

 though very numerous, are small, and much more delicate in 

 their fibres than the common muscles of motion in the body 

 of the animal. The feet, also, are very much prized, though 

 chiefly on account of the cartilaginous substance on the soles. 

 To a European, however, an elephant feast would, probably, 

 be but a sorry meal. 



Independently of his living only in the wild state, and in- 

 habiting woods of more savage character than those of Asia, 

 there is a sullenness in the air and expression of the African 

 elephant. His head is carried much lower, and less grace- 

 fully than that of the Asiatic species ; and the apparent 

 shortness of the face, the want of squareness in the outline, 

 and the bullet-shape of the cranium, all conspire to take off 

 from him that expression of sagacity, which is, probably, more 

 imaginary than real in his oriental congener. The greater 

 size of tusks, too, in proportion to that of the animal, tends to 

 increase this expression. But not withstanding all these dis- 

 advantages of appearance, the African elephant is a highly 

 interesting as well as powerful animal ; and one almost regrets 

 that, even for the sake of bushmen feasts and ivory trinkets, 

 he should have been hunted down with so much assiduity in 

 those wild woods which, as they are not taken possession of 

 by civilized man, might have remained as birthright pastures 

 of the elephant. In consequence of this there are now few 

 or no elephants except at a considerable distance from the 

 Cape, though in the woods farther to the north they are still 

 numerous. 



