18 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



fright for the whole day. The major and his 

 companions pressed the elephant very close, riding 

 before, hehind, and on each side of him; and his 

 look sometimes, as he turned his head, had the 

 effect of checking instantly the speed of the major's 

 horse. His pace never exceeded a clumsy rolling 

 walk, but was sufficient to keep the horses at a 

 short gallop. Major Denham fired a ball from 

 each barrel of his gun at the beast, and the second, 

 which struck his ear, seemed to give him a mo- 

 ment's uneasiness only. The first, which struck 

 him on the body, failed in making the least im- 

 pression ; and, after giving him another spear, 

 which flew harmless off his tough hide, he was 

 left to pursue his way. 



Eight elephants were soon afterwards reported 

 as being at no great distance, and coming towards 

 the party ; and they all mounted for the purpose 

 of chasing away the beasts, which appeared to be 

 unwilling to go, and did not even turn their backs 

 till the horsemen were quite close and had thrown 

 several spears at them. The flashes from the pan 

 of the gun seemed to alarm them more than any- 

 thing ; but they retreated very majestically, first 

 throwing out, like the elephant first encountered, 

 a quantity of sand. On their backs were a num- 

 ber of birds called tuda, (a species of buphaga, 

 probably,) described as resembling a thrush in 

 shape and note, and represented as being extreme- 

 ly useful to the elephant, in picking off the vermin 

 from those parts which it is not in his power to 

 reach. 



In his excursion to Munga and the Gambarou 

 Major Denham and his party came, just before 

 sunset, upon a herd of fourteen or fifteen elephants. 

 These the negroes made to dance and frisk like so 

 many goats by beating a brass basin with a stick ; 

 and in the neighborhood of Bornou these animals 

 were so numerous as to be seen near the Tchad 

 in herds of from fifty to four hundred. 



In temper the African elephant is considered to 

 be more ferocious than the Asiatic, which may be 

 one reason that it is not now tamed. But it is 

 clear that the Carthaginians availed themselves of 

 its services in war ; and it can hardly be doubted 

 that the elephants which Caesar and Pompey ex- 

 hibited in the amphitheatre came from Africa. 



The tusks of this species are of grand dimen- 

 sions, and form a lucrative branch of trade. The 

 ivvry of them being as much prized in modern 

 times as it was by the ancients for furniture, orna- 

 mental purposes, and, above all, for the chrys- 

 elephantine statues, such as those of the Minerva 

 of the Parthenon, and of the Olympian Jupiter, in 

 the creation of whose forms Phidias surpassed 

 himself. 



Regard being had to the ears, the shape of the 

 Afiioan species appears to have been that chosen 

 by Belial, 



A fairer person lost not heaven, 

 m which to present himself to Faust : 



Le gouverneur et principal maitre du Docteur 

 Fauste, vintvers le dit Docteur Fauste, et le voulut 

 risiter. Le Docteur Fauste n'eut pas un petit de 



peur, pour le frayeur qu'il lui fit ; car en la saison 

 qui etuit de 1'ete, il vint un air si froid du diable, 

 que le Docteur Fauste pensa etre tout gele. 



Le diable, qui s'appelloit Belial, dit au Docteur 

 Fauste : Depuis le Septentrion, oil vous demeurez, 

 j'ai vu ta pensee, et est telle, que volontiers tu 

 pourvois voir quelqu'un des esprits infernaux, qui 

 sont princes, pourtant j'ai voulu m'apparoitre a toi, 

 avec mes principaux conseillers et serviteurs, a ce 

 que vous aussi aiez ton desir accompli d'une telle 

 valeur. Le Docteur Fauste repond : Orsus o\i 

 sont ils ? 



Mark the courage of Faust under the influence 

 of this Sarsar, this " icy wind of death." The 

 devil was conscious that the great magician quailed 

 not. 



Or Belial ^toit apparu au Docteur Fauste en la 

 forme d'un elephant, marquete, et aiant 1'epine du 

 dos noire, seulement ses oreilles lui pendoient en 

 has, et ses yeux tous remplis de feu, avec de grandes 

 dents blanches comme neige, une longue trompe, 

 qui avoit troisaunes delongeur demesuree, et avoit 

 au col trois serpens volans. 



Ainsi vindrent au Docteur Fauste les esprits, 1'ur. 

 apres 1'autre, dans sonpoisle : car ils n'eussent peu 

 etre tous a la fois. 



Or Belial les montra au D. Fauste 1'un apres 

 1'autre, comment ils e"toient, et comment ils s'appel- 

 loient. Ilsvinrent devantlui les sept esprits princi- 

 paux, a sgavoir ; lepremier, Lucifer, le Maitre Gou- 

 verneur du Docteur Fauste, lequel se decrit ainsi. 

 C'etoit ungrandhomme, et etoitchevelu, et picofe", 

 de la couleur comme des glandes de chene rouges, 

 qui avoientune grande queue apres eux. 



And so that damned spirit passed by. 



Apres venoit Behebub, qui avoit les cheveux 

 peints de couleurs, velu par tout le corps ; il avoit 

 une tete de bceuf avec deux oreilles effroiables, aussi 

 tout marquete de hampes, et chevelu, avec deux 

 gros floquets si rudes comme les charains du foulon 

 qui font dans les champs, demi verd et jaune, qui 

 flottoient sur les floquets d'en has, qui etoient comme 

 d'un four tout de feu. II avoit un queue de dragon. 



This apparition seems to have suggested that 

 which so terribly disturbed poor old Trunnion ; 

 but the next evil spirit is at Faust's study door : 



Astaroth; celui-ci vint en la forme d'un serpent, 

 et alloit sur la queue tout droit : il n'avoit point de 

 pieds, sa queue avoit des couleurs comme de bliques 

 changeantes, son ventre etoit fort gros, il avoit deux 

 petits pieds fort cours, tout jaunes, et le ventre un 

 peu blanc et jaunatre ; le col tout de chastain roux, 

 et une pointe un fagon de piques et traits, comme 

 le Herisson, qui avangoient de la longeur des doigts. 



No naturalist could have given a more precise 

 description of this devilish Pict. 



Apre*s vint Satan, tout blance et gris, et mar- 

 quete ; il avoit la tete d'une asne, et avoit la queue 

 comme d'un chat, et les comes des pieds longues 

 d'une aune ! 



And so he vanished. 



Suivit aussi Anubry. II avoit la tete d'un chien 

 noir et blanc, et des mouchetures blanches sur le 

 noir, et sur le blanc des noires . seulement il avoit les 

 pieds et les oreilles pendantes comme un chien, qui 

 etoient longues de quatres aunes. 



This must have been the " dog of nile, Anubis." 



