CLASS I. MAMMALIA: OLDER 11. PACHYDERM ATA. 



62 ( J 



THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 



Tlie African Elephant, E. Africanus, as we have said, according to various authorities, is 

 somewhat smaller than the Asiatic;* the head is rounded, the front convex instead of concave, 

 and the nails on each hind-foot are three instead of four. It lives in large herds in Central and 

 Southern Africa, where it is constantly hunted by the natives and also by Europeans, who venture 

 into these regions to pursue the various wild beasts which abound there. Its flesh is relished by 

 the inhabitants of many districts in Africa. Major Denham speaks of it as being greatly esteemed 

 by the people, and he adds that, though it looked coarse, it was better flavored than any beef he 

 found in the country. The ancient Romans considered the trunk as the most delicious part ; but 

 Levaillant speaks of the foot as a dish for a king, and more recent travelers bestow on it equal 

 praise. The disposition of this species is supposed to be more ferocious than that of the Asiatic 

 Elephant, though its habits in a state of nature do not greatly differ. It is not now tamed, but 

 the Carthaginians, as well before as after the time of Hannibal, availed themselves of the services 

 of this species as the Indians did of those of the Asiatic Elephant. The elephants used by. the 

 Ptolemies of Egypt were of this species, as well as those exhibited in the Roman arena bv Csesar 

 and Pompey, and from this kind principally, if not entirely, the ivory for ornamental purposes 

 and the statues before alluded to, seems to have been taken. 



The following excellent description of the elephant of Africa is furnished by Cummings. This 

 animal, he says, "is widely diffused through the vast forests, and is met with in herds of various 

 numbers. The male is much larger than the female, consequently much more difficult to kill. He 

 is provided with two enormous tusks. These are long, tapering, and beautifully arched; their 

 length averages from six to eight feet, and they weigh from sixty to a hundred pounds each. In 

 the vicinity of the equator the elephants attain to a greater size than to the southward, and I am 

 in the possession of a pair of tusks of the African bull elephant, the larger of which measures ten 

 feet nine inches in length, and weighs one hundred and seventy-three pounds. The females, un- 

 like Asiatic elephants in this respect, are likewise provided with tusks. The price which the 

 largest ivory fetches in the English market is from £-28 to £32 per hundred and twelve pounds. 

 Old bull elephants are found singly or in pairs, or consorting together in-small herds, varying from 



* On this point there is some contradiction : Mr. Case, who is an excellent authority, puts the average of the Asiatic 

 Elephant at nine feet high; Dr. Livingstone says the African Elephant averages nine or ten feet in height. 



