554 



UNGULATES. 



narrator, " I did my best to get him away, but he was so thoroughly done that, 

 instead of springing forwards, which was what the emergency required, he only 

 started at a walk, and was just breaking into a canter when the elephant was 

 upon us. I heard two short sharp screams above my head, and had just time to 

 think it was all over with me, when, horse and all, I was dashed to the ground. 

 For a few seconds I was half stunned by the violence of the shock, and the first 

 thing I became aware of was a very strong smell of elephant. At the same instant 

 I felt that I was still unhurt, and that, though in an unpleasant predicament, I 

 had still a chance for life. I was, however, pressed down on the ground in such a 

 way that I could not extricate my head. At last, with a violent effort, I wrenched 

 myself loose, and threw my body over sideways so that I rested on my hands. As 

 I did so I saw the hind-legs of the elephant standing like two pillars before me, 

 and at once grasped the situation. She was on her knees, with her head and tusks 

 in the ground, and I had been pressed down under her chest, but luckily behind 

 her fore-legs. Dragging myself from under her, I regained my feet, and made a 

 hasty retreat, having had rather more than enough of elephants for the time 

 being." 



Although highly appreciated by the natives, the flesh of the 

 African elephant is coarse and rank in the extreme ; portions of the 

 trunk, although tough, are however said to be fairly good. Baked elephant's foot, 

 cooked in the skin, and scooped out like a Stilton cheese, was formerly considered 

 a dainty, but most of those who have tasted it of late years express their dis- 

 approval. 



EXTINCT ELEPHANTS. 



In addition to the mammoth, there are a number of other extinct elephants 

 more or less closely allied to the living species, together with others of a totally 

 different type. The whole of these are confined to Europe, Asia, and North 

 Africa; the only American species being the Columbian elephant alluded to 

 above. 



sutiedje The earliest of the species allied to the living Indian one is the 



Elephant. Sutiedje elephant (E. hysudricus) from the Pliocene rocks of the 

 Siwalik Hills at the foot of the Himalaya. This species had the plates of 

 the molar teeth very thin, but less tall and less numerous than in the Indian 

 elephant. Its skull resembled that of the latter ; and it is quite possible that in 

 this species we may have the ancestor of both the Indian elephant and the 

 mammoth. 



The Narbada The Pleistocene deposits of the Narbada Valley in India yield 



Elephant, the remains of a very large elephant (E. namadicus), which takes its 

 name from the locality in question. In the structure of its molar teeth, one of 

 which is represented on p. 528, this species connects the Indian elephant with 

 the one following. It is characterised by its very short skull, which has an 

 enormous ridge running transversely across the forehead, and some of the bones of 

 this species appear to indicate animals of 13 or 14 feet in height, since they are 

 vastly longer than those of the Calcutta skeleton of the Indian elephant mentioned 

 on p. 529. This species ranged eastwards into Japan. 



