52 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



mus (i.e. biggest), which is interesting, but 

 wrong, for the African elephant, which, as will 

 presently be seen, is different from its Indian 

 cousin in many other respects, is also much 

 the larger and heavier of the two. Still, the 

 clever people say maximus, and there's an end 

 of it. Yet even the Indian elephant is no 

 pigmy, for specimens have been known to 

 measure eleven feet at the shoulder. In case 

 you should ever want to know the height of 

 a tame elephant when there is no ladder handy, 

 it is useful to remember that twice the circum- 

 ference of the forefoot gives the animal's height 

 within an inch or two. I have tested this more 

 than once, and it is at once simpler and more 

 accurate than the American formula for reckon- 

 ing the weight of the big fish called tarpon 

 with a tape measure. I mention this only for 

 the sake of comparison. The formula itself is 

 a nightmare. The forefoot of the elephant has 

 five nails, and the hindfoot only four. 



The most conspicuous possessions of the 

 elephant are its trunk and its tusks. The only 

 difference is that, whereas every elephant has a 

 trunk, many, both male and female, are with- 

 out tusks, and the tusks of the female are, if 

 present at all, generally short and insignificant- 

 looking. The elephant's trunk is, without a 

 doubt, the most wonderful limb, or organ, in 

 all nature, a kind of nose and arm in one. 



