THE ELEPHANT. 12? 



Friendly offices A vulgar error confuted. 



largest foremost; and, when they are to pass a 

 river, they lift the young ones across on their 

 tusks, twisting the proboscis round their middle. 

 When they find any of their species dead in the 

 woods, they cover the carcase with branches of 

 trees, grass, or what else they can get : and, if 

 one of them be wounded, the rest take care df 

 him, bring him food, and run together to save 

 him from the hunter. It was formerly asserted, 

 that the female sucked her own milk, and con- 

 veyed it to her young by means of her proboscis 

 or trunk. This, however, appears to have been 

 entirely erroneous; for J. Corse, Esq. informs 

 us in the Asiatic Researches, that he has seen 

 young elephants, from one day to three years 

 old, sucking their dams; and this gentleman as- 

 serts, that they suck constantly with their mouths, 

 never using their trunks except to press the breast, 

 which by natural instinct they seem to know 

 will make the milk flow more freely. Here we 

 must also observe, that the actual observations of 

 modern authors have completely overturned what 

 has been so often related concerning the mode 

 of connection between the male and female, their 

 supposed delicacy, and a variety of other hypo- 

 theses equally void of foundation. 



The elephant, when tamed, becomes the most 

 gentle and most obedient of animals; and seems 

 formed in a peculiar manner for the service of 

 man in the hot climates. Strong, active, and 

 laborious, it is capable of the greatest exertions; 



