THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 397 



repetition of this error by our instructors, shows how little 

 they know either of the ancient or modern authors who treat 

 of this animal. ^Elian tells us that elephants were bred at 

 Rome ; * and Columella says, " within our own Roman walls 

 we have seen elephants born."f In Asia, the Emperor Akber 

 bred them; and Mr. Corse, in more modern times, has also 

 proved the incorrectness of the general notion. But as ele- 

 phants may at present be captured in whole herds, it is not 

 the practice to incur the expense of breeding them. Another 

 error in some of the most recent books, more especially those 

 intended for children, is the statement that the young elephant, 

 or calf as it is called, sucks with the trunk j and it is really 

 deplorable to see how writers repeat these falsehoods again and 

 again. Le Vaillant, a much better authority than Buffon and 

 his followers, told us long ago, from his own observation, that 

 the young elephant sucks with the mouth. The two breasts of 

 the mother project horizontally from between the front legs, and 

 she never lies down to give her young one suck, but if she is 

 too tall she bends her body towards the calf, which is about two 

 feet and a half high at first, and the little one grasps the nipple 

 with the side of its mouth, pressing its trunk meanwhile against 

 the breast, to cause the milk to flow more readily. 



The flesh of the elephant is eaten, especially that of the 

 African species. Several persons, male and female, ate some 

 rump steaks cut off of poor Chunee, at Exeter 'Change, and 

 pronounced them excellent. The flesh of the celebrated thea- 

 trical elephant, Mademoiselle D'Jeck, who was shot at Geneva 

 on June 27, 1837, was eagerly purchased by the gourmands at 

 the ordinary price of butcher's meat. 



* JElian de Animalibus, lib. ii. cap. xi. Gesner's translation, 

 t Columella de Re Rustica, lib. iii. cap. viii. 



