452 THE ELEPHANT 



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 fi'om their almost vertical position and the diffi- 

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

 they were never designed for weapons of attack. No doubt 

 they may prove of great assistance in digging up roots, but 

 that they are far from indispensable, is proved by their being 

 but rarely seen in the females, and by their almost constant 

 absence in the Ceylon elephant, where they are generally found 

 reduced to mere stunted processes. 



The elephants live in herds, usually consisting of from ten 

 to twenty individuals, and each herd is a family, not brought 

 together by accident or attachment, but owning a common line- 

 age and relationship. In the forest several herds will browse 

 in close contiguity, and in their expeditions in search of water 

 they may form a body of possibly one or two hundred, but on 

 the slightest disturbance, each distinct herd hastens to reform 

 within its own particular circle, and to take measures on its own 

 behalf for retreat or defence. 



Grenerally the most vigorous and courageous of the herd 

 assumes the leadership : his orders are observed with the most 

 implicit obedience, and the devotion and loyalty evinced by his 

 followers are very remarkable. In Ceylon this is more readily 

 seen in the case of a tusker than any other, because in a 

 herd he is generally the object of the keenest pursuit by the 

 hunters. On such occasions the elephants do their utmost to 

 protect him from danger ; when driven to extremity, they place 

 the leader in the centre, and crowd so eagerly in front of him 

 that the sportsmen have to shoot a number which they might 

 otherwise have spared. In one instance, a tusker who was 

 badly wounded by Major Eoger was promptly surrounded by 

 his companions, who supported him between their shoulders, and 

 actually succeeded in covering his retreat to the forest. 



It is a remarkable fact that among the walruses, the tusked 

 monsters of the Arctic shores, we find similar instances of 

 sagacity and devotion. Thus in the attack on the boats of the 

 Trent by a herd of these animals, so beautifully described by 

 Beechey, " the leader having been mortally wounded, his com- 

 panions, who immediately desisted from the attack, assembled 



