22 THE ELEPHANT. 



disadvantages which it can surmount, disadvantages arising 

 from its clumsy conformation, our surprise and admiration 

 increase. 



Though not only the largest, but the strongest of all 

 quadrupeds, in a state of nature it is neither fierce nor 

 mischievous. Pacific, mild, and brave, it only exerts its 

 powers in its own defence or that of the community to 

 which it belongs. It is social and friendly with its kind; 

 the veteran of the troop always appears as the leader, and 

 the next in seniority brings up the rear. As they march, 

 the forest seems to sink beneath them, in their passage they 

 bear down the branches of trees, on which they feed ; 

 and, if they enter cultivated fields, the labours of 

 agriculture soon disappear. Such invasions are the more 

 terrible, as they cannot be repelled ; for an army of men 

 would scarcely be equal to the attack of their united 

 numbers. Sometimes, however, a straggler or two are 

 assailed by the hunters ; and even in this case, it is 

 necessary to employ stratagem against them as well as 

 the force of arms; for, should the hunter miss his aim, 

 and fail to secure a timely retreat, the enraged animal 

 presently discovers its assailant, rushes on him, strikes him 

 with his tusks, seizes him with his trunk, tosses him in the 

 air, and watching his fall tramples him to death. Many 

 fatal instances of this kind are recorded by travellers, and 

 a very striking one may be found in Van Reenen's Journal 

 of an expedition in quest of the unfortunate crew of the 

 Grosvenor East-Indiaman. 



In their natural state, Elephants delight in frequenting 

 the banks of rivers, and moist situations, environed with 

 the deepest woods. They always disturb the water before 

 drinking, and often fill their trunks with this element, 

 which they spout out in the manner of a fountain, for 

 amusement or revenge. 



In the city of Delhi, as an Elephant was passing along 

 the streets, it put its trunk into a tailor's shop, where one 

 of the men at work pricked it with a needle, pleasing him- 

 self and his comrades with the frolic. The animal disguised 

 its resentment, but, proceeding to a dirty puddle, filled its 

 trunk, and, returning to the spot, spouted the contents on 

 the offending tailors : and thus amply revenged the insult 

 it had received. 



In Africa, Elephants, perhaps, are the most numerous, 

 but in Asia they are the largest and most useful to man. 

 In India particularly, they are inured, by regular and 



