HIS WONDERFUL TRUNK 451 



the same way, and performs the same work, a little in advance 

 of the first, which is thus at liberty to move lower still. Then 

 fii-st 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 bank, descending till 

 tlie animal gains the level below. 



" This an elephant has done at an angle of forty-five degrees, 

 carrying a houdah, its occupant, his attendant, and sporting 

 apparatus, and in much less time than it takes to describe the 

 operation." * 



The stomach of the elephant, like that of the camel or the 

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

 reservoir for water against the emergencies of thirst; but the 

 most remarkable feature in the organisation of the "Leviathan 

 of the land " is his wonderful trunk, which, uniting the flexibility 

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

 liand 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 

 Avater, 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 instrument of defence, 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, 



* Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, yol. xiii. 



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