THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT 



he is very careful and shy, remaining all day in his hid- 

 ing-place, leaving it only at night, not uttering the slight- 

 est sound except to warn the herd of danger. Certain 

 noises made by the elephant, which often guide the 

 hunter to the stand of the animal, are entirely invol- 

 untary. They accompany, as in other large herbivo- 

 rous animals, the process of digestion. The capacious 

 stomach of the elephant is long and narrow; filled with 

 incredible quantities of food, this mighty laboratory 

 cannot be expected to work noiselessly. 



The elephant, no doubt, selects or shifts his stand 

 frequently, with the view of avoiding his most persist- 

 ent tormentor, the gadfly. Shady thickets and groves 

 of trees offer the best protection. 



I am told by natives' that the elephant is able to de- 

 tect the paths of human beings by smelling the ground. 

 I mysolf have seen a herd increase their speed when 

 they passed a path on which I had travelled two days 

 before. 



It is a well-known fact that elephants profit by ex- 

 periences, particularly bad ones. Nothing, for instance, 

 can induce a tamed elephant to step on a wooden plat- 

 form which has once given way under him. In the 

 state of freedom an elephant shuns a neighborhood 

 where he once has had an experience with pitfalls. 



It has been observed that in the Masai plateaus sev- 

 eral herds congregate together towards the month of 

 October, each herd, however, retaining its identity. 



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