50 LEAVES FROM THE 



not merely content with siglit -seeing, but like to know 

 something about what they see. 



To begin, then, with the African elephant — Elephas 

 Africanus. Notwithstanding the accounts which we 

 read relative to the enormous stature of this species in 

 the narratives of travellers who have come suddenly upon 

 them, the better opinion is that it is smaller than the 

 Asiatic elephant. The principal differences are visible 

 in the head, ears, and nails of the feet. The contour of 

 the head is round, and the forehead is convex instead of 

 concave : the ears are considerably longer than those of 

 its Asiatic congener, and on each hind foot the African 

 elephant has only three nails, while the Asiatic has 

 four. 



The following dimensions of a male elephant, which 



was killed near Bru, some ten miles from Kouka, are 



given by Major Denham, who arrived at the place where 



the huge quarry lay just as the elephant, which was not 



more than twenty-five years old, had breathed his 



last : — 



ft. in. 



Length from the proboscis to the tail . . 25 6 



Proboscis 7 ^ 



Small teeth 2 10 



Foot longitudinally 17 



Eye 2 by 11 



From the foot to the hip-bone ... 9 6 

 From the hip-bone to the back ... 3 

 Ear 2 2 by 2 6 



But he says that he had seen much larger elephants 

 than this alive ; some, he adds, he should have guessed 

 to be sixteen feet in height, and with tusks probably 

 exceeding six feet ia length. Major Denham, however, 

 acknowledges that the elephant whose measurement is 

 above given, which was the first he had seen dead, was 

 considered of more than common bulk and stature. 



This unfortunate animal was brought to the ground by 



