712 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE ELEPHANT, RHINOCEROS, HIPPOPOTAMUS, CAMEL, ZEBRA. 



The Great Tropical Pachydermati. The Elephant: Difference between the tame and wild 

 Elephant His Instinctive Timidity Acuteness of His Senses His Sagacity in Climbing 

 Hills His wonderful Trunk His Tusks Elephant Herds The Rogue, or Solitary Ele- 

 phant The Asiatic and African Species The African Elephant tamed in Ancient Times 

 Present Range of the African Elephant Native Modes of Hunting the African Elephant 

 The Elephant and the Rifle Perils of Elephant-Hunters Elephant-Hunting in Abyssinia 

 The Asiatic Elephant Elephant-Hunting in Ceylon The Panickeas, or Native Elephant- 

 HuntersElephantine Head-Work Obstinate Brutes. The Rhinoceros .-Range and Char- 

 acter of the Rhinoceros Two Species, the Black and the White Size of the Rhinoceros 

 Acuteness of its Senses Its winged Attendant Its parental 'Affection Its nooturnal 

 Habits Modes of Hunting the Rhinoceros The One-Horned or Indian Rhinoceros The 

 Two-Horned Rhinoceros of the Malay Archipelago Rhinoceros-Paths in Java. The Hip- 

 popotamus: Is the Hippopotamus the Behemoth of Job? Habits of the Hippopotamus 

 Its uncouth Aspect Rogue Hippopotami Intelligence of the Hippopotamus Uses of its 

 Skin and Teeth Mode of Killing the Hippopotamus. The Camel: Its Adaptation to the 

 Tropical Sand-Wastes Its Physical Organization adapted to its Mode of Life Its Foot 

 and its Stomach Its Desert Home The Camel and the Arab The Two-Humped and 

 One-Humped Camels The Camel an immemorial Serf Its Aspect and Temper. The 

 Giraffe: Beauty of the Giraffe Its Means of Defense Its special Organization The 

 Lion and the Giraffe The Giraffe known to the Ancients. Zebra and Quaggas: Their 

 Abundance in Southern Africa Distinction Between the Quagga and the Zebra Capacity 

 for Domestication Their Union for Defense The Gnu, the Quagga, and the Zebra The 

 Zebra the Tiger-Horse of the Ancients The African Boar The Malayan Babirusa. Finis. 



AMONG the animals belonging to the Tropical World there are none more dis- 

 tinctive than the great Pachydermati, the Elephant, the Rhinoceros, and the 

 Hippopotamus. To these huge beasts, the largest that walk the earth, we propose to 

 devote a chapter ; supplementing it with a few pages concerning the Giraffe, the Camel, 

 and a few other animals of large size, exclusively tropical. First and foremost we will 

 speak of the Elephant : 



A tamed elephant, as we see him in menageries, compelled to go through his round 

 of tricks for the amusement of everybody who will pay the required quarter of a dol- 

 lar, is apparently a stupid beast. He seems a very mountain of flesh, covered with a 

 loose and ill-fitting skin. His great, clumsy legs look like those of a gouty alderman ; 

 he writhes his huge trunk about with an air of hopeless imbecility ; all his energies 

 seem to be concentrated upon the feat of conveying to his mouth the apples and nuts 

 held out to him by gaping urchins. A very different animal is the same elephant in 

 his native haunts. There he is the keenest wariest, and most cunning of beasts. 

 The little sharp eye is alight with intelligence ; the ponderous ears are alive to the 



