THE ELEPHANT. 117 



vast bluff head projected every few seconds out of water, 

 has a most extraordinary appearance. 



Undoubtedly the largest of terrestrial animals is the 

 elephant, 



" The huge earth-shaking beast; 

 The beast on whom the castle 



With all its guards doth stand; 

 The beast that hath between his eyes 



The serpent for a hand." 



But the specimens with which we are familiar in our 

 ecological gardens and menageries, are inadequate repre- 

 sentatives of the race. It is in their native regions, of 

 course, that we look for the most magnificent specimens. 

 Some exaggeration, however, has prevailed respecting the 

 dimensions attainable by the elephant. " Seventeen to 

 twenty feet " have been given as its occasional height in 

 the Madras presidency. The Emperor Baber, in his 

 Memoirs, alludes to the report that in the islands the 

 elephants attain ten gez, or about twenty feet; but he 

 adds, " I have never seen one above four or five gez/' (eight 

 or ten feet.) The East India Company's standard was 

 seven feet and upwards, measured at the shoulder. Mi- 

 Corse says the greatest height ever measured by him was 

 ten feet six inches. As an example of the deceptiveness 

 of a mere conjecture even by experienced persons, he 

 mentions the case of an elephant belonging to the Nabob 

 of Decca, which was said to be fourteen feet high. Mr 

 Corse wished to measure particularly, as he himself judged 

 him to be twelve feet. The driver assured him that the 

 beast was from fifteen to eighteen feet ; yet when care- 



