20 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



The period of gestation with an elephant is supposed 

 to be two years, and the time occupied in attaining full 

 growth is about sixteen years. The whole period of 

 life is supposed to be a hundred years, but my own 

 opinion would increase that period by fifty. 



The height of elephants varies to a great degree, 

 and in all cases is very deceiving. In Ceylon an ele- 

 phant is measured at the shoulder, and nine feet at this 

 point is a very large animal, There is no doubt that 

 many elephants far exceed this, as I have shot them so 

 large that two tall men could lie at full length from the 

 point of the fore foot to the shoulder ; but this is not a 

 common size ; the average height at the shoulder would 

 be about seven feet. 



Not more than one in three hundred has tusks ; they 

 are merely provided with short grubbers, projecting 

 generally about three inches from the upper jaw, and 

 about two inches in diameter ; these are called " tushes " 

 in Ceylon, and are of so little value that they are not 

 worth extracting from the head. They are useful to the 

 elephants in hooking on to a branch and tearing it 

 down. 



Elephants are gregarious, and the average number in 

 a herd is about eight, although they frequently form 

 bodies of fifty and even eighty in one troop. Each herd 

 consists of a very large proportion of females, and they 

 are constantly met without a single bull in their num- 

 ber. I have seen some small herds formed exclusively 

 of bulls, but this is very rare. The bull is much larger 

 than the female, and is generally more savage. His 

 habits frequently induce him to prefer solitude to a gre- 

 garious life. He then becomes doubly vicious. He 

 seldom strays many miles from one locality, which he 



