450 



HISTOllY OF 



in seniority brings np the rear. The young, the weak, and the 

 sickly, fall into the centre ; while the females carry their young, 

 and keep them from falling by means of their trunks. They 

 maintain this order only in dangerous marches, or when they de- 

 sire to feed in cultivated grounds ; they move with less precau- 

 tion in the forests and solitudes ; but without ever separating, or 

 removing so far asunder as to be incapable of lending each other 

 any requisite assistance. Nothing can be more formidable than 

 a drove of elephants, as they appear at a distance in an African 

 landscape ; wherever they march, the forests seem to fall before 

 them ; in their passage, they bear down the branches upon which 

 they feed ; and if they enter into an inclosure, they destroy all 

 the labours of the husbandman in a very short time. Their in- 

 vasions are the more disagreeable, as there is no means of re- 

 pelling them ; since it would require a small army to attack the 

 whole drove when united. It now and then happens that one 

 or two is found lingering behind the rest, and it is against these 

 that the art and force of the hunters are united ; but an attempt 

 to molest the whole body would certainly be fatal. They go 

 forward directly against him who offers the insult, strike him 

 with their tusks, seize him with their trunks, fling him into the 

 iiir, and then trample him to pieces under their feet. But they 

 are thus dreadful only when offended, and do no manner of per- 

 sonal injury when suffered to feed without interruption. It is 

 even said that they are mindful of injuries received ; and when 

 once molested by man seek all occasions for the future to be re- 

 venged ; they smell him with their long trunks at a distance ; 

 follow him with all their speed upon the scent ; and though slow 

 to appearance they are soon able to come up with and destroy him. 

 In their natural state they delight to live along the sides of 

 rivers, to keep in the deepest vales, to refresh themselves in the 

 most shady forests and watery places. They cannot live far 

 from the water ; and they always disturb it before they drink. 

 They often fill their trunk with it either to cool that organ, or 

 to divert themselves by spurting it out like a fountain. They are 

 equally distressed by the extremes of heat and cold ; and to 

 avoid the former, they frequently take shelter in the most ob- 

 scure recesses of the forest, or often plunge into the water, and 

 even swim from the continent into isLiuds some leagues distant 

 from the shore. 



