-,,, CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



o-tviiiLT, ' \Vhat! nae danger, man, and the beest comin' right up aiming us? I say, man, what'll we 

 do? Whaur'll we riu ?' The women instinctively ran and squatted themselves down behind the 



hushes. 



" As soon as I could break loose from the grasp of my countryman, I ran to endeavour to seize 

 the young elephant by the trunk, and Speulman took his stand on the opposite side for the same 

 purpose. I was astonished at the nimbleuess with which the animal ascended the steep hill. As 

 In- approached the spot where we stood, we found he was much older than we expected, being nearly as 

 large as an ox ; and, after making an ineffectual attempt to get hold of his trunk, we were obliged to 

 X\M- him a free passage between us. I now picked up my gun, and gave chase to him ; but he ran so 

 fast, that I could not overtake him. 



" I was well pleased we had not succeeded in seizing him, as, in all probability, he would have 

 done us some serious injury with his tusks, which were just appearing at the root of the trunk. When 

 they are only a few days old, there is no difficulty in catching them, and they become docile almost 

 immediately. Several attempts have been made to rear them with cow's milk, but without success." 



Elephants are still numerous in the interior, and are killed both by the Kaffirs and the Boers. The 

 elephant hunt seems to have peculiar fascination for the latter men and boys, from the age of fourteen 

 to seventy, following the exciting sport. An Englishman, however, one William Fitzgerald, is said to bear 

 away the palm as the most fearless hunter ; for, during the last year, he remained in the Veldt without 

 cover for nearly three months, accompanied by two halt-caste servants. These three are said to have 

 killed, during that period, seventy elephants, the tusks of which weighed three thousand pounds ! 

 Ivory is exported by these Boers in large quantities ; those of Zautpausberg alone, in the short space 

 of three months, having brought sixty thousand pounds, Dutch weight, or nearly thirty tons. 



Another family of PacJiydermes* consists of animals which, apparently, have but one toe, and a 

 .single hoof, or shoe, to each foot, but on each side of the metacarpus and the metatarsus are bony 

 points, or processes, which represent two lateral toes. Here we find a series of remarkable and inter- 

 esting creatures. 



THE HOESE.t 



THE structure of the Horse and of kindred animals is calculated to secure strength with fleet- 

 ness. The consolidation of the bones of the foot is carried further than it is in the ox and other 

 ruminants ; for, in place of their two parallel phalanges, which are articulated with the cannon-bone, 

 there is here only a single metatarsal bone. The three phalanges of which that single finger consist, 

 ln'ar the names of the pastern, the coronet, and the coffin-bone; and the hoof, of course, is single like- 

 wise ; there is also a small bone connected with the last, called the shuttle-bone. To the cannon- 

 bone are joined, behind and on the side, two much shorter and very slender bones, which are rudiments 

 of the other rnetacarpal bones. They have been termed the styloid, or splint-bones ; and are generally 

 united with the cannon-bone. 



The scapula of the horse is very narrow, and placed nearly in a straight line with the 

 hiiiiu-rus, which latter bone is very short, and scarcely descends below the line of the chest. The 

 thigh-bone is also unusually short. The muscles, which extend the joint, and throw the thigh back- 

 wards in kicking, are particularly powerful. This is the natural defensive action of the horse ; and 

 it- force is increased by a particular process with which the bone is furnished, and which has the 

 I'onn of a strong-curved spine, situated on the outside, giving to the muscles the advantage of a long 

 lever. The cervical vertebrae have only short spiuous processes, that they may not interfere with the 

 motions of the neck. On the other hand, in the vertebra of the back, these processes are remarkably 

 long, especially at the part where the shoulder rests, their projection constituting what is called the 

 imtliers. 



The astragal is the huckle, ankle, or sling-bone ; the upper bone of the foot supporting the tibia. 

 The stomach of the horse is furnished at the cardia with a spiral fold of the inner, or cuticular, 

 membrane, which forms a complete valve, offering no impediment to the entrance of food from the 

 cetophagus, but obstructing the return of any part of the contents of the stomach into that passage. 



N 



EquUta, f Kquus cabatlus. 



