HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 189 



out on the upper side in the form of a finger, and 

 possesses in a great degree the niceness and dex- 

 terity of that usful member. It is equally flexible, 

 and as capable of laying hold of objects as the 

 fingers of a man. He lifts from the ground the 

 smallest piece of money ; he selects herbs and 

 flowers, and picks them up one by one ; he unties 

 the knots of ropes, opens and shuts gates, &c. 

 With his trunk he grasps any body which it is 

 applied to, so firmly, that no force can tear it from 

 his gripe. 



Of all the instruments which Nature has so 

 liberally bestowed on her most favourite produc- 

 tions, the trunk of the Elephant is perhaps the most 

 complete and admirable. Ray says, it is divided 

 into three partitions or chambers, two of which run 

 in spiral directions, and the other in a right line. 

 It is eight feet long in an Elephant of fourteen feet 

 high, and five feet in circumference at the thickest 

 part. The nostrils are situated at the extremity, 

 through which it draws in water by a strong 

 suction, either for the purpose of quenching its 

 thirst, or of washing and cooling itself, which it 

 frequently does, by taking up a large quantity, part 

 of which it carries to its mouth, and drinks ; and by 

 elevating the trunk, allows the remainder to run 

 over every part of its body. 



Roots, herbs, leaves, and tender wood, are the 

 ordinary food of the Elephant. It does not rumi- 

 nate, and has but one stomach : this want, however, 

 is amply supplied by the magnitude and length of 

 his intestines, and particularly of the colon, which 

 is from fifteen to twenty feet in length, and two or 

 three in diameter. When one of them discovers a 

 plentiful pasture, he calls to the others and invites 



