HIS WONDERFUL TRUNK. 433 



forms the same work, a litMe in advance of the first, which is 

 thus at liberty to move lower still. Then, first one and then 

 the second of the hind-legs is carefully drawn over the side, 

 and the hind-feet in turn occupy the resting-places previously 

 used and left by the fore ones. The course, however, in such 

 precipitous ground is not straight from top to bottom, but 

 slopes along the face of the banik, descending till the animal 

 gains the level below.' 



The stomach of the eleplrant, lilte that of the camel or the 

 llama, is provided with a cavity, serving most probably as a 

 reservoir for water against the enaergencies of thirst ; but the 

 most remarkable feature in the organisation of the ' Leviathan 

 of the land' is liis wonderful trunk, which, uniting the flexibility 

 of the serpent with a giant's power, almost rivals the human 

 hand by its manifold uses and exquisite delicacy of touch. 



' Nearly eight feet in length, and stout in proportion to the 

 massive size of the whole animal, this miracle of nature,' as it is 

 well expressed by Mr. Broderip, ' at the volition of the elephant 

 will uproot trees or gather grass ; raise a piece of artillery or 

 pick up a comfit ; kill a man or brush off a fly. It conveys the 

 food to the mouth, and pumps up the enormous draughts of 

 water, which, by its recurvature, are turned into and driven 

 down the capacious throat, or showered over the body. Its 

 length supplies the place of a long neck, which would have 

 been incompatible with the support of the large head and 

 weighty tusks.' A glance at the head of the elephant will show 

 the thickness and strength of the trunk at its insertion ; and 

 the massy arched bones of the face and thick muscular neck are 

 admirably adapted for supporting and working this incomparable 

 instrument, which is at the same time the elephant's most 

 formidable defensive weapon, for, first prostrating any minor 

 assailant by means of his trunk, he then crushes him by the 

 pressure of his enormous weight. 



The use of the elephant's tusks is less clearly defined. 

 Though they are frequently described as warding off the attacks 

 of the tiger and rhinoceros, often securing the victory by one 

 blow, which transfixes the assailant to the earth, it is perfectly 

 obvious, both from their almost vertical position and the difi&- 

 culty of raising the head above the level of the shoulder, that 

 they were never designed for weapons of attack. No doubt 



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