242 APPENDIX 



the shoulder ; but many exceed nine feet. 

 Although they are always measured at the 

 shoulder, the back is somewhat arched and 

 gives a considerably higher measurement than 

 the shoulder. A curious fact that has been 

 frequently substantiated is that twice the cir- 

 cumference of the fore-foot will be found to 

 give practically the exact height of the 

 shoulder. 



The elephant is gregarious, and generally 

 lives in small bands or 'herds.' Twenty or 

 thirty years earlier than the time referred to, 

 before they had been so much persecuted, these 

 herds were often very large ; but at the time 

 I was in Ceylon six or eight was a common 

 number to find together, although on one 

 occasion a herd was seen that must have been 

 somewhere between thirty and forty in number. 



These animals are distributed all over the 

 Island and not, as often supposed, in the flat 

 and hot ' Low Country ' only. They were 

 found throughout the mountainous Central 

 Province to a height of 7000 feet or more. In 

 spite of their great size, weight and apparent 

 clumsiness, no hill-side is too steep, no pass 

 too rocky or difficult for them. The ' elephant 

 paths,' trodden by the feet of countless genera- 

 tions, are to be found traversing in every 



