THE EJ.-EPHANT. 



419 



board, in a very orderly manner, his keeper 

 only showing h'un the figure of each letter. 

 Wiiile thus employed, the eyes might be ob- 

 served studiously cast down upon the writing, 

 and exhibiting an appearance of great skill 

 and erudition." It sometimes happens that 

 the object is too large for the trunk to grasp ; 

 in such a case the elephant makes use of 

 another expedient, as admirable as any of the 

 former. It applies the extremity of the trunk 

 to the surface of the object, and, sucking up 

 its breath, lifts and sustains such a weight as 

 the air in that case is capable of keeping sus- 

 pended. In this manner this instrument is 

 useful in most of the purposes of life ; it is an 

 organ of smelling, of touching, and of suction ; 

 it not only provides for the animal's necessities 

 and comforts, but it also serves for its orna- 

 ment and defence. 



But, though the elephant be thus admirably 

 supplied by its trunk, yet, with resprct to the 

 rest of its conformation, it is unwieldly and 

 helpless. The neck is so short that it can 

 scarcely turn the head, and must wheel round 

 in order to discover an enemy from behind. 

 The hunters that attack it upon that quarter, 

 generally thus escape the effects of its indigna- 

 tion ; and find time to renew their assaults 

 waile the elephant is turning to face them. 

 The legs are, indeed, not so inflexible as the 

 neck, yet they are very stiff, and bend not 

 without difficulty. Those before seem to be 

 longer than the hinder ; but, upon being mea- 

 sured, are found to be something shorter. 

 The joints, by which they bend, are nearly in 

 the middle, like the knee of a man; and the 

 great bulk which they are to support makes 

 their flexure ungainly. While the elephant is 

 young, it bends the legs to lie down or to rise; 

 but when it grows old, or sickly, this is not 

 performed without human assistance, and it 

 becomes, consequently, so inconvenient, that 

 the animal chooses to sleep standing. The 

 feet, upon which these massy columns are sup- 

 ported, form a base scarcely broader than the 

 legs they sustain. They are divided into five 

 toes, which are covered beneath the skin, and 

 none of which appear to the eye ; a kind of 

 protuberance like claws are only observed, 

 which vary in number from three to five. 

 The apparent claws vary ; the internal toes 

 are constantly the same. The sole of the foot 

 is furnished with a skin as thick and hard as 



NO. 35 & 36. 



horn, and which completely covers the whole 

 under-part of the foot. 



To the rest of the elephant's incumbrances 

 may be added its enormous tusks, which are 

 unserviceable for chewing, and are only wea- 

 pons of defence. These, as the animal grows 

 old, become so heavy, that it is sometimes 

 obliged to make holes in the walls of its stall 

 to rest them in, and ease itself of the fatigue of 

 their support. It is well known to what an 

 amazing size these tusks grow ; they are two 

 in number, proceeding from the upper jaw, 

 and are sometimes found above six feet long. 

 Some have supposed them to be rather the horns 

 than the teeth of this animal ; but, besides their 

 greater similitude to bone than to horn, they 

 have been indisputably found to grow from the 

 upper jaw, and not from the frontal bones, as 

 some have thought proper to assert." Some 

 also have asserted, that these tusks are shed 

 in the same manner as the stag sheds its horns ; 

 but it is very probable, from their solid con- 

 sistence, and from their accidental defects, 

 which often appears to be the effect of a slow 

 decay, that they areasfixed asthe teeth of other 

 animals are generally found (o be. Certain it is 

 that the elephant never sheds them in a do- 

 mestic state, but keeps them till they be- 

 come inconvenient and encumbersome to the 

 last degree. An account of the uses to which 

 these teeth are applied, and the manner of 

 choosing the best ivory, belongs rather to a 

 history of the arts than of nature. 



This animal is equally singular in other parts 

 of its conformation ; the lips and the tongue 

 in other creatures serve to suck up and direct 

 their drink or their food ; but in the elephant 

 they are totally inconvenient for such pur- 

 poses ; and it not only gathers its food with its 

 trunk, but supplies itself with water by the 

 same means. When it eats hay, as I have 

 seen it frequently, it takes up a small wisp of 

 it with the trunk, turns and shapes it with that 

 instrument for some time, and then directs it 

 into the mouth, where it is chewed by the great 

 grinding teeth, that are large in proportion to 

 the bulk of the animal. This pacquet, when 

 chewed, is swallowed, and never ruminated 

 again, as in cows or sheep, the stomach and 

 intestines of this creature more resembling 



a See Mr. Daubenton's description of the skeleton of 

 this animal. 



3R 



