450 THE ELEPHANT 



which he had slightly wounded, owed his almost miraculous 

 escape. The animal had already raised its fore-foot to trample 

 him to death, when, its forehead being caught at the instant by 

 the tendrils of a climbing plant which had suspended itself from 

 the branches above, it suddenly turned and fled.* An instinctive 

 consciousness that his superior bulk exposes him to danger from 

 sources that might be harmless in the case of lighter animals, 

 is probably the reason why the elephant displays a remarkable re- 

 luctance to face the slightest artificial obstruction on his passage. 

 Even when enraged by a wound, he will hesitate to charge his 

 assailant across an intervening hedge, suspecting it may conceal 

 a snare or pitfall, but will hurry along it to seek for an opening. 



Unlike the horse, he never gets accustomed to the report of 

 fire-arms, and thus he never plays an active part in battle, but 

 serves in a campaign only as a common beast of burden, or for 

 the transport of heavy artillery. 



To make up for his restricted vision, his neck being so 

 formed as to render him incapable of directing the range of his 

 eye much above the level of his head, he is endowed with a re- 

 markable power of smell, and a delicate sense of hearing, which 

 serve to apprise him of the approach of danger. 



Although, from their huge bulk, the elephants might be sup- 

 posed to prefer a level country, yet, in Asia at least, the regions 

 where they most abound are all hilly and mountainous. In 

 Ceylon, particularly, there is not a range so high as to be in- 

 accessible to them, and so sure-footed are they, that provided 

 there be solidity to sustain their weight, they will climb rocks, 

 and traverse ledges, where even a mule dare not venture. 



Dr. Hooker admired the judicious winding of the elephant's 

 path in the Himalayas, and Sir J. E. Tennent describes the saga- 

 city which he displays in laying out roads, or descending abrupt 

 banks, as almost incredible. 



" His first manoeuvre is to kneel down close to the edge of the 

 declivity, placing his chest to the ground, one fore-leg is then 

 cautiously passed a short way down the slope, and if there is no 

 natural protection to afford a firm footing, he speedily forms one 

 by stamping into the soil if moist, or kicking out a footing if 

 dry. This point gained, the other fore-leg is brought down in 



* Sir James Emerson Tennent : Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 288. Fourth Edition. 



