416 



THE ELEPHANT. 



that can adapt seemingly opposite causes to 

 concur in the same general design ; and even 

 where the organs are deficient, that can sup- 

 ply their place, by the intervention of assisting 

 instruments. Where reason prevails, we find 

 that it scarcely matters what the organs are 

 that give it the direction ; the being furnished 

 with that principle still goes forward, steadily, 

 and uniformly successful; breaks through every 

 obstacle, and becomes master of every enter- 

 prise. I have seen a man, without hands or 



[Nearly allied to the last kind, in having a pouch for the 

 security of its young, but differing in many other particu- 

 lars, is the KANGUROO, a native of New Holland, first dis- 

 covered by Captain Cook in the year 1770. Its size is at 

 least that of a full-grown sheep ; but there is a remarkable 

 disproportion in its shape, the head and neck being veiy 

 small, while the lower parts gradually, dilate to a very 

 great size : the fore legs are hardly 19 inches long, while 

 the hinder ones measure 3 feet 9 inches : accordingly, 

 this animal's pace consists of vast springs or bounds, said 



legs, convert, by practice, his very stumps to 

 the most convenient purposes ; and with these 

 clumsy instruments perform the most aston- 

 ishing feats of dexterity. We may, therefore 

 conclude, that it is the mind alone that gives a 

 master to the creation ; and that, if a bear or 

 a horse were endowed with the same intellects 

 that have been given to man, the hardness of a 

 hoof, or the awkwardness of a paw, would be 

 no obstacle to their advancement in the arts of 

 dominion, or of social felicity. 



to exceed 9 feet in height and 20 in length. The tail 

 is of such great strength as to be able to break a man's 

 leg at a single blow. The young ones (of which the fe- 

 male is said to have only one at a time) at first hardly ex- 

 ceed an inch in length, and in the early periods of their 

 growth reside entirely within the pouch of the dam. They 

 feed on vegetables, drink by lapping, and burrow under 

 ground. The Rat Kanguroo differs from the above, be- 

 ing only about the size of a rabbit, and is far less elegant 

 and pleasing.] 



CHAPTER LIX. 



OF THE ELEPHANT. 



HAVING gone through the description of 

 those quadrupeds that, by resembling each 

 other in some striking particular, admit of be- 

 ing grouped together, and considered under 

 one point of view, we now come to those insu- 

 lated sorts that bear no similitude with the rest, 

 and that to be distinctly described must be 

 separately considered. 



The foremost of these, and in every respect 

 the noblest quadruped in nature, is the ele- 

 phant, not less remarkable for its size than its 

 docility and understanding. All historians 

 concur in giving it the character of the most 

 sagacious animal next to man ; and yet, were 

 we to take our idea of its capacity from its 

 outward appearance, we should be led to con- 

 ceive very meanly of its abilities. The ele- 

 phant, at first view, presents the spectator with 

 an enormous mass of flesh that seems scarcely 

 animated. Its huge body, covered with a cal- 

 lous hide, without hair ; its large mis-shapen 

 legs, that seem scarcely formed for motion ; its 

 little eyes, large ears, and long trunk ; all give 



it an air of extreme stupidity. But our pre- 

 judices will soon subside when we come to 

 examine its history ; they will even serve to 

 increase our surprise, when we consider the 

 various advantages it derives from so clumsy 

 a conformation. 



The elephant is seen from seven to no less 

 than fifteen feet high. Whatever care we take 

 to imagine a large animal beforehand, yet the 

 first sight of this huge creature never fails to 

 strike us with astonishment, and in somf 1 mea- 

 sure to exceed our idea. Having been used 

 to smaller animals, we have scarcely any con- 

 ception of its magnitude ; for a moving column 

 of flesh, fourteen feet high, is an object so ut- 

 terly different from those we are constantly 

 presented with, that to be conceived it must 

 be actually seen. Such, I own, were the sug- 

 gestions that naturally arose to me when I first 

 saw this animal, and yet for the sight of which 

 I had taken care to prrpare my imagination. 

 I found my ideas fall as short of its real size, 

 as they did of its real figure ; neither the pic- 



