HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 123 



vegetables, when the animal is only a few weeks old. This 

 may be a necessary provision in the economy of elephants, 

 because at certain seasons the female may have to range 

 farther and faster for food than her young one is able to 

 follow her, while the place which she leaves may still 

 afford a supply sufficient for the support of her deserted 

 offspring. 



Notwithstanding the great size and strength of the ele- 

 phant, .the fury which he evinces when excited, and the 

 perfect safety in which he lives in forests which contain the 

 most bold and ferocious beasts of prey, and the most for- 

 midable reptiles, he is no match for man, in even the low- 

 est degree of civilization. The rude man has only to 

 kindle a fire, and the elephant flies in the utmost conster- 

 nation ; or he digs a pit and conceals it with green boughs ; 

 the elephant falls into it, and his very weight and strength 

 are the means of his destruction. The elephant is to all 

 appearance safe from the paw of the tiger, the jaws of the 

 alligator, the crushing folds of the python, and the poison 

 of the most deadly serpent ; but he has no defence against 

 the wiles of man. The countries which he inhabits, con- 

 tain, amid the luxuriance with which they are adorned, 

 vegetable poisons of the most mortal character. The 

 rude man has found out by experience how to concentrate 

 these, till they shall speedily curdle the blood, or benumb 

 the frame even of the elephant. So he dips his weapon in 

 the deadly virus, bends his simple bow, sets his arrow on 

 the string, takes his aim with certainty, and in brief space 

 the giant volume of the elephant tumbles lifeless on the 

 earth. 



The animal senses of the elephant appear to be all very 

 acute ; while he is in health the w r hole of the skin is sen- 

 sitive to very trifling causes ; and the top of the proboscis 

 has probably as keen a sense as the points of the human 

 fingers. His eye, also, is keen, though the range of his 

 vision is probably not very extensive. Indeed, sight is not 



