450 THE MODERN ELEPHANT. 



destination. Evidently it was adapted to brave the winters of a 

 boreal clime ; its long, warm, and woolly coat forming an admirable 

 defence against the severest cold. It probably inhabited the icy 

 plains, and the banks of the lakes and rivers ; its food consisting of 

 lichens, reeds, and the young shoots of the willows and other trees 

 which thrive in moist situations. 



The Mammoth naturally leads us to an examination of his 

 descendant and congener, the Elephant ; the largest and strongest, 

 the most sagacious and docile of all living animals. 



Elephants, of which only two species at present exist, the Asiatic 

 and African, are natives of tropical regions, where they prefer to 

 inhabit the depths of the forests, quitting their umbrageous recesses 

 only at night, in search of food, or to quench their thirst in the 

 nearest stream. 



The whole form of the animal suggests the idea of unwieldy 

 strength. His head is large, with extremely small eyes, and very 

 large and pendulous ears ; he has an arched back, and a huge thick 

 body, which rests upon clumsy and shapeless legs ; his feet are 

 slightly divided into five rounded heaps ; the upper jaw is armed 

 with two enormous projecting tusks, which measure in many instances 

 six or seven feet ; and he is endowed with an extraordinary proboscis 

 or trunk, of such strength that it can uproot trees, and of such deli- 

 cacy that it can gather grass. This organ, nearly eight feet in 

 length, conveys the food to the mouth, and pumps up the enormous 

 draughts of water, which by its recurvature are turned into and 

 driven down the capacious throat, or showered over the body. Its 

 length supplies the place of a long neck, which would have been 

 incompatible with the support of the large head and weighty tusks. 

 A glance at the head will show the thickness and strength of the 

 trunk at its insertion ; and the massy arched bones of the face and 

 thick masculine neck, are wonderfully adapted for supporting and 

 working this powerful and marvellous instrument. 



The Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus of Linne, Elephas 

 Indicus of Cuvier) has small ears and tusks. A head elongated in 



