340 THE ELEPHANT. 



served, 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 fur- 

 nished with a skin as thick and hard as horn, and 

 which completely covers the whole under part of 

 the foot. 



To the rest of the elephant's encumbrances, 

 may be added its enormous tusks, which are un- 

 serviceable for chewing, and are only weapons of 

 defence. These, as the animal grows old, be- 

 come 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 ani- 

 mal ; 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 his 

 horns ; but it is very probable, from their solid 

 consistence, and from their accidental defects, 

 which often appears to be the effect of a slow 

 decay, that they are as fixed as the teeth of 

 other animals are generally found to be. Certain 

 it is, that the elephant never sheds them in a 

 domestic state, but keeps them till they become 



* See M. Daubcnton's description of the skeleton of this animal. 



