254 



DOCILITY OF ANIMALS. 



occupy the centre. In the forest and solitudes they move 

 with less precaution ; but never separate so far asunder as to 

 render them incapable of affording each other assistance when 

 danger approaches. A troop of elephants constitutes a most 

 formidable band. Wherever they march, the forest seems to 

 fall before them. They bear down the branches upon which 

 they feed ; and, if they enter an inclosure, they soon destroy 

 all the labors of the husbandmen. Their invasions are the 

 more tremendous, as there is hardly any means of repelling 

 them ; for to attack a troop, when thus united, would require 

 a little army. It is only when one or two elephants happen to 

 linger behind the rest, that the hunters dare exert their art 

 and ingenuity in making an attack ; for any attempt to dis- 

 turb the troop would certainly prove fatal to the assailants. 

 When an insult is offered, the elephants instantly move for- 

 ward against the offender, toss him in the air with their tusks, 

 and afterwards trample him to pieces under their feet, or 

 rather pillars of flesh and bone. Let not the character of this 

 noble, majestic animal, however, be misrepresented. With 

 force and dignity he resents every affront ; but, when not dis- 

 turbed by petulance or actual injury, he never shows a hos- 

 tile intention either against man or any other animal. Ele- 

 phants live entirely on vegetables, and have no thirst for 

 blood. Such is their social and generous disposition, that, 

 when an individual chances to meet with a luxurious spot of 

 pasture, he immediately calls to his companions, and invites 

 them to partake of his good fortune. 



The elephant possesses all the senses in perfection ; but, 

 in the sense of touching, he excels all the brute creation. 

 His trunk is the chief instrument of this sense. In an ele- 

 phant fourteen feet high, the trunk is about eight feet long, 

 and five feet and a half in circumference at the base. It is a 

 large fleshy tube, divided through its whole extent by a sep- 

 tum or partition. It is capable of motion in every direction. 

 The animal can shorten or lengthen it at pleasure. It answers 

 every purpose of a hand ; for it grasps large objects with 

 great force, and its extremity can lay hold of a sixpence or 

 even of a pin. The trunk of the elephant affords him the 

 same means of address as the ape. It serves the purposes of 

 an arm and a hand. By this instrument, the elephant conveys 

 large or small bodies to his mouth, places them on his back, 

 embraces them fast, or throws them forcibly to a distance. 



In a state of nature and perfect freedom, the dispositions 

 of the elephant are neither sanguinary nor ferocious. They 



