6o 



The Life of an Elephant 



necessary to keep the hide clean and sensitive. 

 So in India, even the domestic elephant is aided 

 in such efforts towards cleanliness by being- 

 bathed and scrubbed daily with a hard brick. 

 How important it is to keep the skin healthy 

 by regular friction is known to the breeders of 

 domestic cattle, but has apparently escaped the 

 notice of curators of Zoological Gardens, who 

 but rarely provide any means by which their 

 captives can follow the dictates of nature as 

 regards this form of health preservation. 



Another difference between the wild and con- 

 fined elephant, is that the former possesses a 

 roundness of head and body, referable to that 

 full formation of muscle which apparently can 

 only be attained by suitable and varied food 

 accompanied by sufficient exercise. The 

 monotony of stale buns 

 and of slow promenades on 

 gravelled paths must soon 

 reduce even the finest 

 specimens of elephant life 

 to creatures of no 

 vitality of brain 



