510 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO IfQQ. 



and merghee is termed sunkareah*, or mergha-bauliah-j~; but a further mixture 

 or crossing of the breed renders it extremely difficult for the hunters to ascertain 

 the variety. Besides the koomareah, merghee, and sunkareah breeds, several 

 varieties are generally to be found in the same herd; but the nearer an elephant 

 approaches to the true koomareah species, the more he is preferred, especially by 

 the natives, and the higher price he will consequently bear. Europeans are not so 

 particular, and will sometimes prefer a merghee female for hunting and riding on, 

 when she is known to have remarkably good paces, and to be of a mild and tract- 

 able disposition. 



The elephants for the service of the Hon. East India Company, are generally 

 taken in the province of Chittigong and Tiperah ; but, from what I have heard, 

 those to the southward of Chittigong, in the Burmagh territories and kingdom of 

 Pegu, are of a superior breed. In confirmation of this opinion, I may observe, 

 that the elephants taken to the south of the Goomty river, which divides the 

 province of Tiperah from east to west, are generally better than those taken to the 

 north of that river; and though elephants are taken at Pilibet, as far north as 

 latitude 29°, in the Vizier of Oude's territories, yet the Vizier, and the officers of 

 his court, give those taken in Chittigong and Tiperah a decided preference, being 

 much larger and stronger than the Pilibet elephant, Till the year 1790, Tiperah 

 was a part of the Chittigong province; and so sensible was the Bengal government 

 of the superiority of the southern elephants, for carrying burdens, enduring fatigue, 

 and being less liable to casualties, that in the late contracts for supplying the army 

 with those useful animals, the contractor was bound not to send any elephant to 

 the military stations, taken north of the Chittigong province. 



Hence we may conclude the torrid zone to be the natural clime, and the most 

 favourable for producing the largest, the best, and the hardiest elephant; and that 

 when this animal migrates beyond the tropics, the species degenerates. On the 

 coast of Malabar, elephants are taken as far north as the territories of the Coorgah 

 Rajah; but these are much inferior to the Ceylon elephant, and, from this circum- 

 stance, the report of the superiority of the Ceylon elephant to all others has pro- 

 bably originated. Most of the accounts we have had respecting the Asiatic 

 elephant, have been given by gentlemen who resided many years ago on the coast 

 of Malabar or Coromandel; where, at that time, they had but few opportunities 

 of seeing the Chittigong or Pegu elephant. 



After premising these general observations, I may here observe, that elephants 

 have 2 tusks, in the upper jaw only; but those in some of the females are so small 

 as not to appear beyond the lip, while in others they are almost as large as in one 

 variety of the male, named mooknahj. Elephants have no incisores or cutting 



* Sunkareah signifies a mixed breed, from sunkarah, a mixture. + Mergha-bauliah signifies for 



the most part merghee; that is, partaking more of their cast than of the koomareah. J Probably 



from mookh, the mouth or face. — Orig. 



