BOOK VIII. IX. 27-.\. 29 



on their backs ; they are the most important factor 

 in eastern warfare, scattering the ranks before them 

 and trampling armed sokliers underfoot. Neverthe- 

 less they are scared by the smallest squeal of a pig ; 

 and when wounded and frightened they always give 

 ground, doing as much damage to their own side as 

 to the enemy. African elephants are afraid of an 

 Indian elephant, and do not dai-e to look at it, as 

 Indian elephants are indeed of a larger size." 



X. Their period of gestation is commonly supposed Breeding 

 to be ten years, but Aristotle puts it at two years, f;,X'^^~ 

 and says that they never bear more than one at a 

 time,'' and that they Uve 200 and in some cases 

 300 years. Their adult hfe begins at 60. They take 

 the greatest pleasure in rivei's and roam in the 

 neighbourhood of streams, although at the same 

 time they are unable to swim •= because of the size 

 of their bodies, and also as they are incapable of 

 enduring cold : this is their greatest infirmity ; they 

 are also liable to flatulence and diarrhoea, but not 

 to other kinds of disease. I find it stated that 

 missiles sticking in their body fall out when they 

 drink oil, but that perspiration makes it easier for 

 them to keep their hold. It also causes them disease 

 to eat earth unless they chew it repeatedly ; but 

 they devour even stones, consider trunks of trees a 

 great deUcacy, and bend down the loftier palm trees 

 by butting against theni with their foreheads and 

 when thus prostrate consume their fruit. They eat 

 with the mouth, but they breathe and drink and 

 smell with the organ not unsuitably called their 

 hand. They hate the mouse worst of Uving creatures, 

 and if they see one merely touch the fodder placed 

 in their stall they refuse it with disgust. They are 



23 



