CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 55 



in water and use their trunk to squirt it over 

 their backs. I have watched this performance 

 on hot evenings with feelings of envy, for the 

 flies troubled me also, and such a shower bath 

 must have been very refreshing. 



The tusks of the elephant are true teeth in 

 the upper jaw. It should be remembered that 

 they are quite distinct from the horn of the 

 rhinoceros, or even from the tushes of the wild 

 boar. The baby elephant has " milk-tusks " 

 just as we ourselves have "first" teeth. How 

 long the tusks go on growing, no one seems to 

 know for certain, though the theory in India is 

 that they do so all through the animal's life. 

 As an elephant may live considerably more 

 than a century, this kind of statement must be 

 taken on trust, unless, of course, the yearly 

 measurements of the tusks were handed on 

 from father to son, which has not hitherto been 

 done, but it seems inconceivable that this con- 

 tinuous growth should be the case, as in even 

 middle-aged Indian elephants tusks have been 

 recorded measuring nearly 10 feet and weigh- 

 ing over 100 Ibs. Such figures, however, were 

 always unusual, and to-day they would be very 

 rare. Even in Africa, where single tusks have 

 been taken weighing more than 150 Ibs., most 

 of the best have long since been made into 

 billiard balls and brush handles. The tusks of 

 the cow elephant in India are small. There 



