THE ELEPHANT. 



183 



ivory, as well as ambrr and gold. Of the chrys-deplMiUvne statuary, or the union of gold and ivory of 

 the Greeks and Romans in works of art, we have many accounts. 



Ancient historians, such as Diodorus, the Sicilian, relate the following tale: Stiiiiirainis, tlm 

 Assyrian Queen, longed for the conquest of India, but dreaded the elephants which Stabrobates, the 

 king she purposed attacking, could bring into the field. She therefore directed 300,000 black oxen to 

 be slain, and of the skins, sewn together and stuffed with straw, artificial elephants to be formed, so 

 that each one might be carried by a camel, and directed by a man. All this being secretly done, and 

 the horses of the army familiarised with the machines, Semiramis took the field at the head of an 

 immense force of cavalry and infantry. 



Stabrobates, meanwhile, had increased the number of his elephants, and furnished them completely 

 with offensive and defensive armour. He sent ambassadors to the Queen with protests- against her 

 invasion and threats of her destruction, but her reply was a smile, and proceeding to the Indus she 





THE ELEPHANT. 



sank a thousand of his vessels, and took a great number of captives. Stabrobates feigned a panic, and 

 fled ; the feint took ; Semiramis crossed the river, and pursued the Indians with the greater part of 

 her forces. 



In her front she placed the artificial elephants. Stabrobates repented of his retreat when he 

 heard of their number, but he was comforted by the tidings of deserters as to their true character. 

 Semiramis, supposing the cheat undiscovered, led on the attack ; the machines frightened the horses so 

 that they threw their riders, or rushed with them among the enemy. But vain was the contention 

 when the true elephants of Stabrobates came up ; dreadful was the carnage. The Assyrians fled, and 

 the life of their queen, pierced in the arm by one of his arrows, and in the shoulder by one of his 

 darts, was only saved by the fleetness of her horse. 



The Scriptures contain no allusion to the elephant till the time of David, when we find mention 

 is made of " ivory palaces."* In the reign of Solomon ivory was imported by the vessels of Thurshish 

 from India, with other productions of that country. t We read of " a great throne of ivory," J ami 



Psalm xlv. 8. 



t 1 Kings x. 22. 



1 Kings x. 18. 



