128 



LETTER XX! If. 



highly delighted with the scent of odoriferous 

 In each jaw he has four grinders, one of which some- 

 times measures nine inches in breadth, and weigh* 

 four pounds .and a half. The texture of the skin is 

 uneven and wrinkled, and full of deep fissures resem- 

 bling the bark of an old tree. The colour is tawnr., 

 inclining to grey. The, legs of this animal are massr 

 columns of three or four feet in circumference, and 

 five or six in height. Its feet are rounded at the bot- 

 tom, divided into five toes covered with skin, so as not 

 to be visible, and terminated in a nail or hoof of a 

 horny substance. His body is remarkably round and 

 bulky, and nearly destitute of hair. 



The proboscis, or trunk, is the most singular and 

 peculiar characteristic of this extraordinary quadru- 

 ped; and of all the instruments which the superabun- 

 dant wisdom and goodness of the Creator has bestow- 

 ed on the various forms of animal life, this^is perhaps 

 the most complete and the most admirable. It i 

 composed of nerves, membranes and sinews, and U 

 the organ of smelling, foaling, and action, as the aui- 

 . inal can bend, contract, lengthen and turn it in every 

 direction. 



This fleshy tube terminates in a protuberance* 

 which stretches out on the upper side in the form of a 

 finger, and possesses in a considerable degree the dex- 

 terity of that useful member of the human body. 

 With this instrument the animal can lift from the 

 ground the smallest piece of money, select herbs and 

 flowers, untie knots, and grasp any thing so firnily 

 that no force can tear it from his grasp. 



At the end of this trunk are placed the nostrils 

 through which he draws in water for the purpose of 

 quenching his thirst, or of washing and cooling him- 

 self, which he performs by taking in a large quantity, 

 and then spouting it out over his whole body, as if it 

 issued from a fountain. 



The extremes of cold and heat seem equally to af- 

 fect these animals: to avoid the latter, they seek the 

 thickest shade, or retire to large rivers in which they 



